The Chronicles of Orion
by OrionRaiju
Summary: Uchiha Orion is one of the two survivors of the Uchiha clan. As he strives to gain power by any means necessary, only one objective remains constant: Kill the Masked-Man. But is all as it seems, and what lengths will he go to for power? Rated T for language and violence. The writing for my first few chapters is a little shoddy but it improves after that point.
1. The Massacre

**Hey all, this is my first story that has been thinking of for the last couple of years and finally decided to publish.**

**I have the basic premise of the story thought out and will try to update frequently, however I am doing all of this with my phone so things can be slow. **

**Anyway enjoy, any advice or constructive criticism is appreciated.**

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**Chapter 1: The Massacre**

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Orion is a boy of 9 years old. He has dark brown hair and black eyes. He at the moment was wearing black 3 quarter pants, black sandals and a white t-shirt with elbow length sleeves and a black jacket with short sleeves. On the back of the jacket there was a symbol, a symbol which represented his heritage as an Uchiha. In his left hand he held a back pack with the symbol of his village: Konohagakure no Sato.

He made his way to the compound in which the Uchiha lived. It was quite a distance from the academy, which was in the centre of the village while the compound was at the edge. He opened the front door to his house and was greeted by the smell of his mothers cooking. He stood there for a couple of seconds before removing his sandals. "Kaa-san, Tou-san I'm home." he yelled. He made his way to the kitchen and took a seat at the table. "Hello Ori-kun, how was school?" Kesaihime asked while stirring a pot. You could tell looking at the two that they were mother and son, looking very similar, with Kesaihime having longer hair, a more feminine face and black rimmed glasses.

"It was fine." he said. "The only really interesting thing that happened was when we practiced henge. I did Tou-san." Kesaihime smiled, remembering henging into her own parents in the academy.

"When's Nee-chan home, I want to practice shuriken with her?"

"She should be home soon, but why don't you go do your homework until then." She said automatically.

"Kaa-san, is something wrong, you sound...distant?"

Kesaihime turned and looked at her son with a gaze full of love that only a mother could give. "No Ori-kun nothing is wrong." She said lovingly. " Now go do your homework before your sister comes home."

"Okay Kaa-san." Orion said before running up the stairs his mothers eyes following him. Had he stayed a few seconds longer he would have been able to see the lone tear roll down his mothers cheek.

Dinner was a quiet affair, with Orions father Shinjo and sister Haru having joined. Both had dirty blonde hair and light brown eyes. Shinjo was a civilian with lean build and slightly greying hair. His sister was 8 years his senior and was chunin in rank. "You're really improving with your shuriken, otouto." Haru said proudly. "I know." Orion said cheekily.

"A little gratitude would be appreciated ya little squirt!" Haru said, a little annoyed, glaring at her younger brother.

"You shouldn't expect gratitude for doing your duty of passing knowledge to the next generation, Baa-chan." Orion said while smirking at his older sister. "Pray to Kami that you are never put on squad with me gaki." Haru spoke calmly, a calmness that made Orion shiver a little.

"Quit squabbling at the table, the both of you." Shinjo spoke sternly. "Hai Tou-san." The two said in unison and then resumed eating, Kesaihime not saying a word for the whole meal.

********BREAK********

The next morning Orion awoke to his mothers calls. He yawned and stretched and then got dressed for the day. In the kitchen he met his mother and father eating breakfast. A plate was ready for him, with scrambled eggs and toast. It was simple but his favourite. He quickly ate, said his goodbyes,and was about to leave before his mother called to him;

"Ori-kun, I heard that Sasuke-kun was having difficulty with shuriken, could you stay behind a little after school and help him out?" Kesaihime asked."Sure thing Kaa-san".

"And Orion,"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too Kaa-san." Orion said back, noting his mothers odd behaviour this morning.

********BREAK********

After school finished Orion found Sasuke at the academy training ground throwing shuriken at a post. "Want any help?" Orion asked. "Sure." Sasuke said, seeming down.

"What's up Sasuke, is something the matter?"

"..."

"You can tell me Sasuke, I won't tell anyone." Orion said trying to sound reassuring. Sasuke sighed.

"Everyone keeps comparing me to Itachi and I feel as if I'll never get out of his shadow!" Sasuke yelled, throwing shuriken harshly at the post and missing a few.

"I don't think that's fair, Itachi's a prodigy that only comes around once in a generation. He's considered great, even among the prestige of high and mighty Uchiha." Throwing his own shuriken and adjusting Sasuke's arms a little bit. "To expect another to be just as good him is absurd."

"You saying I have nothing on Itachi!?" Sasuke said with a glare and another round of shuriken.

"Most shinobi in the village have nothing on Itachi." Orion responded.

"I guess." Sasuke said with a pout as Orion adjusted his arms again.

"You know what the solution is don't you?" Orion said slyly.

"What?" Sasuke questioned, giving his cousin his full attention.

Orion smirked; "Become strong enough that people will compare Itachi to _you_!" Orion exclaimed.

"That's easier said than done." Sasuke sighed.

They continued practicing and exchanging banter for another hour and a half before Sasuke yelled; "AHH! I better get home before Tou-san gets angry!" Sasuke said loudly, noticing that the sky was getting dark. "You run ahead if you need to, I'll clean up here and get your shuriken to you later." Orion said. "Thanks!" Sasuke said while running out of the school grounds and towards the Uchiha compound. Orion gathered the shuriken and placed the extra in an spare holster in his bag. He glanced at the setting sun and started leisurely making his way home.

He noticed the lack of light and life as he entered the compound. 'No guards?' He thought.

He walked in further and turned a corner, nearly throwing up his lunch at the sight he saw. Several corpses impaled with shuriken and kunai, and others with their throats or stomachs slashed open. All had one thing in common; the symbol of the Uchiha on their backs.

"Oh f-f-fuck, what the hell happened!?" he asked, tears pricking his eyes. He began running towards his house nearly crying when he saw the bodies of his kindly aunt and uncle, but tears were threatening to pour out.

He reached his house and burst in the front door and ran to the kitchen. What he saw he couldn't believe, his father on the floor, knife in hand and his neck twisted at an odd angle. "Tou-san." he sobbed disbelievingly, tears falling freely. He heard a clatter in the next room and ran towards it.

What he saw next he would never be able to forget, his sister on the ground, looking as if her throat was impaled, but that wasn't the worst. On the far side of the room was his mother standing, or looked to be, with a black rod sticking out of her upper back.

"KAA-SAN!" Orion yelled, breathing heavily and taking a step towards his only supposedly living family. He stopped suddenly when the black rod was suddenly withdrawn from Kesaihime. She slouched a little as she turned to face her son.

"Or-i-on." She said in a desperate whisper, left hand over her profusely bleeding wound and the right outstretched to her child. Orion couldn't move, he was petrified with fear. Kesaihime made her way slowly over to Orion, who still hadn't made a move.

Her outstretched bloodied hand lay itself on Orion's brown hair.

"Haha." Orion said with his voice cracking and a duel river of tears flowing down his cheeks.

Kesaihime's hand slid down Orion's head and face, leaving 5 trails of blood over his forehead and eyes, then she fell to the side. Orion heard footsteps coming from the shadows, from the one who just killed his mother, father, sister and most likely the rest of the clan. He felt a sudden surge of indescribable anger coursing through him. He whipped out eight shuriken and threw them. He was confused when he heard the shuriken hit wood.

The man stepped out of the shadows to reveal a black cloak and a burnt orange mask with flame marks on the left side. Coming from the right sleeve was the black blood soaked rod that had killed his mother and probably his sister.

He took out a kunai and leapt for the Masked-Man and aimed for his throat. "YOU BASTARD!" He yelled.

He was shocked when he passed right through the Masked-Man. He stumbled and fell to the floor.

"Uchiha Orion?" The Masked-Man asked.

"DON'T SAY ANYTHING YOU BASTARD." He yelled.

"That answers that." He said emotionlessly.

A swirling vortex began to form from the man, the centre seemingly at his right eye. Orion took this opportunity and jumped for the Masked-Man again. This time he crouched to avoid and leapt backwards, going straight through the walls. Orion seemed to be able to track his movements a little better and so gave chase.

Deciding to ignore the corpses of his most beloved, Orion burst out the front door and looked around, trying to find the masked-man. He then felt himself get hit harshly on the side of the head and was sent flying down the street. He felt consciousness slip away but before it did he heard, with a hint of amusement in the voice;

"So young yet he had awakened it? Hm, interesting." Said the dark macabre voice.

Orion then fell unconscious.

********BREAK********

When Orion woke up he had a pounding headache. It was okay though, his mother would make him something to make him feel better. 'She'll probably want to take my temperature and keep me home, knowing how cautious she is. He sat up suddenly, realising that he was not in his bed. He looked around and saw white. A white curtain, white bed, white hospital gown. Hospital gown? He put a hand to his head and felt bandages. Suddenly the memories of the night before came back to him at full force.

"Oh-oh God." He said, sounding on the verge of tears.

He leapt from the bed and quickly got his clothes from the adjacent wardrobe. He ran from the room and out of the hospital, earning a few curious stares along the way. It started raining but he couldn't care. He made it to the compound and he saw the yellow police tape. He didn't want to believe it, but he was probably the only Uchiha left. He ignored the tape and ran through the streets to his house. As he did he saw white tape on the ground, showing where every Uchiha was killed by the Masked-Man.

He got to his house. He reached for the door but he hesitated. He shook his head and burst through the door. As he entered the kitchen he looked down to see the outline of his farther. He felt his heart throb at the sight. He made his way to the living room and saw the other two outlines. He looked at the far wall and saw eight indentations on the wall showing where he threw the eight shuriken his sister had given him for his ninth birthday the month before.

He walked up the stairs to his parents' bedroom and looked around, knowing it would never be used by the people it should be. He climbed into their bed, not caring he was getting it wet with rainwater. He could smell them in the bed. He could feel the tears coming and he didn't stop them.

"Why?" He whispered to nobody.

"Why did this happen, why did he do this?" He whispered with anger seeping into it.

"I vow this on the lives of my family, I will kill you!" The boy said with conviction in his words.

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**Just to clarify Orion's name isn't pronounced like the constellation, it is pronounced Oar-Eee-On.**

**The tem 'Haha' is another term used to address ones mother.**


	2. The Realisation

**I hope things didn't seem too fast paced in the last chapter. **

**I would like to thank Dulemina for my first ever review. It is appreciated.**

**Disclaimer that I forgot to do in the first chapter: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, lucky bastard.**

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**Chapter 2: The Realisation**

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"Uchiha Orion!"

Orion stirred in his sleep, being awoken by a unfamiliar voice. One thing Orions family was was always sure to do was be at a distance when waking the boy up, and there was a reason: Orion was one cranky sonuvabitch when being prematurely awakened. The only one who could get away with it was his mother and sometimes his father if the boy had a good sleep.

"What the hell do you want?" Orion asked the ANBU, who's silver hair seemed to defy gravity, not feeling up to the task of forming a decent insult.

"And what the fuck are you doing in my house!?" He asked angrily.

The ANBU looked at the child through the porcelain mask with sympathy, noting his bloodshot eyes, wrinkled clothes and furious glare. He didn't even get under the duvet of what he assumed was his parents' bed.

"Hokage-sama seeks an audience with you Orion-san." The ANBU said in a monotone voice.

"Okay." Orion said, not surprised that the Hokage wanted to see him. "Just let me get ready first." He said. He was in no rush and was sure the Hokage wouldn't mind being kept waiting for a while, considering what Orion went through the night before.

He left his parents' room and made his way to his own. When he got there he stripped off his clothes and threw them in the hamper. He searched through his wardrobe and took out his decided clothes for the day: black shorts that went down to his knees and a plain white t-shirt with an Uchiha symbol that was outlined in black on the back.

He grabbed a towel he kept on the floor at the foot of his bed, a towel his mother wished he'd put in a drawer or somewhere, just not on the floor. He'd always refused and he was still going to. He draped the towel around his waist, left his room and made his way to the bathroom. He put down the toilet seat and put his towel on it. He shivered at the cold air touching his exposed body. He turned on the water in the shower, adjusting the knobs to the temperature he knew he liked best. He tested it with his hand, liked it and stepped in. He pulled the shower curtain closed and sighed in relief.

His hands roamed his body cleaning it. He reached for the '2 in 1 body wash and shampoo' that his sister absolutely "had" to buy, claiming it was efficient. Orion didn't see the point, seeing as they had about a dozen other bottles of each on the shower shelf that would have surly kept them in stock for at least a year. 'Women.' he thought, not being sure if he'd ever understand them.

He scrubbed the soapy substance into his scalp and onto the rest of his body. When he was finished he just stood under the water for another 10 minutes before it started to get cold. He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. The bathroom was filled with steam. He walked over to the vanity mirror. It was fogged up so he wiped it over with his hand. He looked over his body and realised one thing: as he was, he was weak.

He couldn't even hit the man once, and he got one-shoted by him. He frowned, clenched his fists at his sides and grit his teeth. He stormed over to the towel grabbed it and left the bathroom, not bothering to cover himself, and went back to his room. He dried himself quickly and put on his clothes.

He made his way to the kitchen and saw a bowl of porridge on the table.

"Eat Fast."

"AHH!" Orion nearly jumped out of his skin, turned around with his hands out ready to fight. The ANBU was standing there with his arms crossed.

"Don't sneak up on people asshole!" Orion said angrily.

"I didn't sneak up on you, I was here the whole time. It's not my fault you're not aware of your surroundings." The ANBU said with no emotion.

"...asshole!" he whispered loudly, turning away from the man.

"You really ought to watch your tongue, it's unbecoming of a shinobi in training."

"..." Orion decided not to respond.

He took a seat at the table and picked up the spoon and looked at the questionable meal. Nevertheless he appreciated the gesture.

"Thank you, ANBU-san." the ANBU nodded.

With some effort Orion dug out some 'porridge'. He put it in his mouth and gagged. 'This thing tastes like dogs rolled around in it, pissed in it, was left out to dry, scraped up, and put in this bowl for the purpose of killing me!' Orion thought. He spat what he hesitated to call food back into the bowl and turned to face the ANBU.

"I have a question ANBU-san. May I ask it?"

"You may."

"Were you sent here for the purpose of exterminating what is left of the Uchiha clan?"

"No." The ANBU said stoically.

He got up and threw the stuff away, bowl and all, deciding that it would not be worth the effort of trying to separate the two. He climbed onto the counter and took out a cup-ramen. It was his sisters, she loved the stuff always going on about some little shop in the village called 'Ichikaki', or something. It wouldn't be his first choice but it was better than what the ANBU who may or may not be trying to kill him would have him eat. He took the kettle, filled it with water and placed it on the stove, and turned it on.

Orion leaned against the counter and looked to the spot where he first saw his fathers corpse, noticing that the white tape was gone. He turned his head to the ANBU and asked;

"Is there anyone else?" he asked, not letting any hope enter his mind.

"Uchiha Sasuke." was the reply.

Orions eyes widened at this. Sasuke was not the one he thought would make it, maybe Itachi or Fugaku, someone who could properly defend himself, but Sasuke? There must be a reason the Masked-Man left them alive, something he was not seeing. His train of thought was broken when he heard a whistle. He turned to the stove and turned off the burner. He ripped the lid off of the cup ramen and poured the boiling water into the cup. Given his height all this wasn't the simplest of things but he got it done.

"Thank you." Orion said without turning to look at the ANBU. After 3 minutes Orion took a pair of chopsticks out of the cutlery drawer and walked over to the table with the ramen in hand.

"Itadakimasu." Orion said quietly

He ate relatively quickly and then he and the ANBU left for the Hokage tower.

********BREAK********

They reached the Hokage tower fairly quickly and as they did the ANBU leapt away. Orion sighed.

The receptionist gave a nod of his head indicating that Orion could go straight up the stairs to see the Hokage. He did so and walked slowly around the steep bend to the Hokages office. He knocked three times and heard a voice;

"Enter." It said. Orion knew it as the voice of the Hokage: Hiruzen Sarutobi, a kindly man who could also be the most dangerous person in the village, if not the 5 great nations, if provoked.

Orion opened the door and stepped in. He saw the Hokage behind his desk with many stacks of paperwork on it. In front of the desk was two chairs, the left one already occupied by one Uchiha Sasuke.

"Hello Orion-kun." the Hokage said, tilting his head forward slightly.

"Hello, Hokage-sama." Orion said while bowing deeply.

"Please take a seat." Orion did so, glancing at his mothers' nephew beside him.

"I am sorry, about what the both of you had to go through, it is a great tragedy, one comparable to the Kyuubi attack 7 years ago." the Hokage said solemnly.

"Hokage-sama, would you recognise the culprit if I described him to you?"

"What?" the Hokage asked, seemingly confused.

"The man who killed the clan, I saw him and engaged with him." Orion stood up. "He had odd abilities that I have never heard of, even in books. He could make himself intangible and create a vortex which might be some sort of teleportation technique. He must be really powerful, in order to kill the likes of Itachi and Fugaku-sama." Orion said quickly, slowing down towards the end.

"What do you mean by 'kill' Itachi?" Sasuke asked looking down. He suddenly stood up and yelled;

"HE WAS THE ONE WHO DID THIS!"

"What?" Orion asked, eyes widening at this new information.

"It seems that there are two culprits here." the Hokage said, taking a puff of his pipe. "Itachi must have enlisted the assistance of an outsider, perhaps he knew even he could not do something so massive on his own." the old man said, he now looked to be in thought. 'Who could this second man be?' he thought.

"Orion describe this other man to me!" the Hokage said sternly.

Orion flinched at the tone of voice but described the masked-man anyway;

"He had a long sleeved black cloak, a mess of black hair, and a burnt orange mask with flame patterns on it, and only one eyehole for his right eye." as Orion continued to describe him he felt anger and sadness bubble up inside of him. He started breathing heavily and his eyes were narrowed in anger at the floor.

"Itachi told me he left me alive because I wasn't worth killing, and that I should fester my anger inside me, and try to surpass him, to kill him. He also told me he killed the clan in order to test the limits of his own abilities."

"I didn't get a reason, I was just left alive for no reason, although he did ask me to confirm my name, for whatever reason he had. Probably some sort of sick twisted mind game." Orion said the last part with venom in his voice.

'Perhaps Itachi saw this masked man as threat, and tricked him into leaving Orion alive in the hope that the boy would one day kill him.' the Hokage thought.

'Even if I don't have the eyes you have, I will kill you Nii-san. My hatred will be enough. I will avenge the clan. Orion and I will bring the clan back to its former glory.' Sasuke thought determinedly.

'I don't care the cost, I will gain power even if I must sell my soul to the devil himself. You will die at my hands, and **nothing**, will stand in my way.' Orion thought darkly.

They then discussed about living arrangements, the Hokage wanted them to move out of the compound and into apartments closer to the heart of the village.

"No." Orion said stubbornly. "That place will serve as a reminder for what I'll be training for. I can't speak for Sasuke but I'm not leaving."

"I feel the same way as Orion, Hokage-sama. I cannot stand to forget what need to do, why I'm going to do it, and the driving force behind it." Sasuke said adamantly.

"Very well," the Hokage sighed. "but I will be keeping a squad of ANBU in the compound at all times." the Hokage declared.

"Hai Hokage-sama." they both said.

"You are dismissed." both boys bowed and took their leave.

The Hokage lay back in his seat and sighed deeply. "If either of those boys ever found out the truth this village would be devastated." he exclaimed.

"Then lets make certain that they never do." a heavily bandaged man with his right arm in a sling, and a cane in his left came out of the shadows.

"We should have waited longer, Danzo." the Hokage said looking at the old war hawk.

"Had we waited any longer it would have been too late." he exclaimed sharply. "Their sacrifice is necessary for the greater good of the village, Hiruzen."

"I just hope that the extermination of the Uchiha was not in vain."

********BREAK********

The Uchiha survivors excited the Hokage tower.

"Sasuke, let's agree now to never interfere with each others path to revenge." Orion proposed.

"I agree. I think it would be best if we tried to stay out of each others' way altogether." Sasuke replied.

"I think that would be a good idea." Orion said. They then took two separate paths to two different training fields.


	3. The Graduation

**Hey all, chapter 3. I hope y'all like the story so far. let me know if you want me to make the chapters longer, I'm averaging 2100 words on my first 2 chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did shit would've happened differently. I duo however own Orion, not the constellation the character, besides they are pronounced differently.**

**Chapter 3: The Graduation**

One month had gone by since the massacre, and Orion had thrown himself into training, using any and all scrolls and books he could get his hands on, not that it could help a whole lot he found out. He was too inexperienced with chakra control to perform anything too complex. He learned from a book that he could improve his chakra control by holding leaves to his body with just chakra. He practiced that at least 2 hours a day, as well as his physical endurance and stamina.

He was shocked to discover that his stamina had suddenly drastically increased. Was the traumatic event what did this, was this goal and newfound purpose in his life fuelling him to last longer? he didn't know. He didn't care. All that mattered was him getting stronger, and this helped that cause.

He could feel himself improving gradually, but not quickly enough for his liking. He needed to graduate, and he needed to graduate soon. He inquired about this to the Hokage, and said it would be possible if he demonstrated skills fit for a genin and that his sensei agreed to it. Sure it would take some convincing for his sensei for her to agree, but he was certain that he could get her to see reason. Orion was happy with the arrangement, he would be able to get a jonin to train him. Sure he would have to share the jonin's time with two others, but any jonin time was better than no jonin time.

All this meant one thing: he would have to go back to the academy. He had neglected to attend a single class in the last month. You might think that was counterproductive to Orion's plans, and you might be right, but then again you might be wrong. In Orion's mind the academy taught to little, too slow for his liking, but he would do what needed to be done.

In the morning he got up, got ready and went to the academy. He arrived at the academy early, and took a seat at the back of the classroom. He took out a book on the history of Konoha and started reading it, ignoring the looks he got from those filing into the room. Eventually the sensei arrived and smiled when she saw Orion.

"It is good to have you back in class, Orion-kun." she said happily.

'the result of the battle between the two Kami like shinobi was what we now call the Valley of the end, and...' Orion's train of thought was broken by his name being called.

"Thank you, Kurawara sensei, glad to be back." Orion replied.

Kurawara Yukino was woman in her late thirties early forties with curly ginger hair that went down to the small of her back and a moderately sized cleavage. She had a cute but adult face. On the left side of her neck there was scar that went all the way around the back , showing the results of an extensive ninja career.

"Now class, today I was going to go over the the henge," everybody groaned. "but to celebrate Orion-kun's return I will let him decide what we will start with." Orion blushed a little as thirty pairs of eyes were on him immediately. He thought about it for a second before saying; "Shinobi **kumite **(hand-to-hand combat)." Orion said, earning a few glares of annoyance and others of gratitude from his fellow students. He personally wanted to see how he faired against his classmates.

The class made their way outside to their years' training grounds. "Orion and Kiro, you start." The two made their way to the centre of the circle engraved into the ground. Kurawara-sensei put her hand between the two boys, before quickly lifting it away and declaring; "Hajime!".

Orion ran for the other boy, jumping and delivering a turning kick which was blocked with Kiro x-blocking to the left of his head, but he was still pushed back. His movements seemed slow to the Uchiha. Orion landed in a crouch, brought his left leg to his chest and snapped it out and up, delivering a blow to Kiro's gut that winded him, knocked him out of the ring and onto the ground.

Kiro was keeled over clutching his gut. Kurawara-sensei came over and started using the **Shōsen Jutsu** (Mystical palm technique) on Kiro's stomach. Orion then walked over to him and held out the index and middle fingers of his right hand. Kiro looked up and returned the gesture, the two forming the unison sign.

Suddenly Kurawara-sensei gasped and looked Orion in the eye. "How long have you had it Orion-kun?" she asked curiously. "Had what?" he said confused. "The sharingan of course." she said while standing up, Kiro with her. "The sharin-" suddenly Orion's eyes widened in surprise. Suddenly things made sense, the reason Kiro's moves seemed so slow, and why he could locate the masked-man that night. "-gan. Since _that _night, sensei." she nodded in understanding.

The class continued until the afternoon, with **kumite **(hand to hand combat), then continued into the evening, covering topics such as the geography of **Kaze no Kuni** (land of Wind) and its economic decline in recent years, as well as eventually getting to around to practicing the henge. Though one thing never left Orion's mind: how could he have the sharingan and not notice. He was frustrated with himself and relieved at the same time. He must have automatically used it when in battle on a subconscious level, or when he was put under pressure. Regardless it was a good thing. It was one more thing he could cross off his to-do list. Eventually class ended.

After everyone else left he stayed behind to talk to his sensei about an early graduation.

"Sensei, I wish to talk to you about me graduating early." he asked politely.

She looked at him for a couple of seconds before saying "State your case." she ordered.

"Huh?" Orion deadpanned, not expecting her to consider it so quickly.

"Tell me why you think you should graduate the academy early?" she explained.

Orion stood to attention and said;

"I have already mastered the 3 mandatory justu the academy teaches. I already have a genin level taijustsu and with my sharingan that will only improve much more steadily. I have learnt katon justu that most wouldn't learn until they reached the level of chunin, they are the **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu **(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) and **Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu **(Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique). I don't know any genjutsu nor can I break it but with the sharingan that will come naturally. My chakra control isn't anywhere near almost perfect, but I am constantly training myself in it. The academy can't help me progress at the rate I need, I can't wait another three years before I can train with a jonin." he said, looking his sensei in the eye the whole time.

Yukino was conflicted. While it was true she knew Orion was at the level needed for a genin, she didn't want to send a child out into the Shinobi world at such a young age. If he were to die she would never forgive herself, nor would Kesaihime were they to meet in the afterlife. She thought of her old teammate, remembering that when they were young Kesaihime had such a great and powerful spirit, a spirit that she had passed onto her son. She looked at Orion, noticing features similar to that of his mother. He reminded her of her old friend, that was the reason he was her favourite student. If Orion had inherited her spirit, could he lose it the same way too? Her thoughts wandered to that faithful day. She instantly forced it to the back of her mind not wanting to remember. 'Kesaihime, Kuroko, I miss you.' she thought sadly.

Her gaze subjugated her students eyes. She sighed and closed her own. She couldn't keep him here, it would be unbearable for him.

" Okay," she said, " I will put your name forward for the upcoming graduation test."

Orion's eyes widened in delight, happy at the opportunity to graduate. Suddenly Kurawara-sensei got on one knee and put her hands on Orion's shoulders.

"Promise me Orion that no matter what happens that you will forgive yourself, that you'll find closure when needed! Promise me that, so that I can send you out with peace of mind!" she begged.

Orion blinked in surprise, not expecting this behaviour from his sensei. "I promise." he said; "I promise on my name and that of my mother, Uchiha Kesaihime!" he said with valiant conviction.

Yukino smiled and hoped that she was making the right choice. You may go now Orion-kun."

"Thank you sensei." Orion said while bowing. He then ran out of the classroom and jumped in victory, breaking the stoic visage the Uchiha were known for.

********BREAK********

It had been 6 weeks since Orion had his name put forward for the graduation test. The test in question was in 1 weeks time. Since he got the news he had been training non-stop. He was in a strict self made routine:

06:00 - 07:00: morning workout consisting of 5 laps around the compound, starting with 100 sit-ups, push-ups and jump-ropes, increased by 5 every school-day since, now being 250 of each.

07:00 - 07:30: get ready for school. Arrive at 07:45.

08:00 - 16:00 : Academy. Go to training field 16 at 16:20.

16:20 - 20:30: train. Chakra control, meditation, Katon justu, academy justu, ranged accuracy, taijustsu, activating and deactivating sharingan at will. Eating a bento dinner at 18:00. Arrive home at 20:45.

20:45 - 22:00: do homework, study, more meditation, bathe and before bed he would stretch. Going to bed at 23:00 sharp, asleep by 00:00. Although some nights he got little to no sleep due to nightmares. He often had to relive that moment where his mother collapsed dead, and the target of his vengeance was born.

That was his routine for schooldays, on weekends after breakfast he went straight to training field until eight at night.

It was exhausting, but Orion saw it as necessary. He could now hold leaves to the soles of his feet, the hardest place to channel chakra to, the next step was tree climbing which he was failing miserably at. He either fell of or the bark broke. Either way it was good motivation to improve his reflexes.

In this time he started to learn a new katon justu:** Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu** (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique), a C ranked technique in its basic form. This justu let the user spit a stream of flames from their mouth. With enough practice it would take the form of a dragon and if the user had enough chakra to make it hot enough it could melt rock. He had also picked up a few D rank justu that would let him make sparks and small concentrated fires. Not very useful in battle but they had their practical uses. He could also concentrate heat to his hands, he could use this to cut through rope.

The Uchiha had an abundance of scrolls on various katon justu. There were dozens to learn and he planned to learn all of them.

********BREAK********

The day had come for Orion to take the graduation test. He got up, did his morning routine and made it to the academy by 07:45. He had to go to the room of the eldest class, seeing as they had the most genin hopefuls.

He got curious stares as he walked into the room, noticing that there was only one or two people who he knew not to be in the oldest class. One thing was certain though; he was the youngest there.

He took a seat up against the wall in the back row, so he could inconspicuously look at his potential future teammates. He couldn't get much by looks alone though. In the end only 18 people showed up. Eventually the sensei came into the room. All those who were talking immediately ceased their chatter, the man at the front given full attention.

He did a roll call and then started talking about what it meant to be a Shinobi, and that when you put on your Hitai-ate it was as if you swore an oath to protect and serve Konoha and her civilians. He then proceeded to explain how the test would work. It would start with a written test, followed by an evaluation of our physical skills, ending with a display of our justu talent, be it nin or gen, as taijustsu was evaluated in part 2 of the exam.

Everyone was handed out 3 sheets of paper with various questions that a genin would be expected to know. He answered with relative ease, though a few questions he could not even fathom the answer to. They were mainly political questions that he could always learn later. After an hour the sheets were collected by 2 assistants and everyone was brought outside.

It was the eldest students training ground, it had a bigger sparring ring and was overall bigger than the rest. We were all tested on our accuracy with shuriken and kunai, and some used senbon. Most if not all passed this easily. The whole time the 3 people overseeing everything kept writing on clip boards. It was annoying. Orion didn't know why but it was annoying. Everyone was then divided up into pairs and we all took turns fighting each other in the ring. He was paired with a 12 year old named Muramasa Daisuke.

Orion POV

We eventually made it into the ring. We stood across from each other and the instructer had his hand between us. "Hajime!" he yelled. We ran at each other and immediately started exchanging kicks and punches. With his bigger body and speed equal to mine he had a natural advantage over me, so I decided to even the paying field. Hence I activated the sharingan. I had enough control over it to activate it at will. After reading a scroll I found out mine was a level 2, as it had 2 tomoe around the pupil.

This evened the playing field and our match went on for another 10 minutes, neither of us showing signs of slowing down. After another 5 minutes we started showing signs of fatigue. He landed a solid kick on my chest that I saw coming but didn't have the reflexes to dodge, that made me fall to the ground. He was instantly on top of me and had a kunai to my throat. I had lost. I smirked. He got up and offered me a hand up and I took it. He smirked back at me and I said;

"Good fight Daisuke-san."

"You too Orion-kun."

I glared at him using -kun on me, as if I was some little kid. 'Well I suppose I am a kid, but so is he.' I thought annoyed.

Eventually we moved onto part 3, ninjutsu and/or genjutsu. We were moved inside again and were asked to take our previous seats. We were called alphabetically to a secluded room to show our basic ninjutsu skills. Being Uchiha meant that I was near the bottom of the list, so it took awhile before I was called.

When I was called I made my way to the room. There was a pile of logs to the side, most with dents in them. At the table were the 3 instructors with a few Hitai-ates left on it.

"Uchiha Orion." he asked.

"Hai." I confirmed.

"Kekkei Genkai?" he asked.

"Sharingan level 2." I said. He raised an eyebrow and scribbled something down on the clipboard. Again I found that annoying.

"Please show us the henge, Uchiha-kun, any three people." he ordered.

I nodded and proceed to make the hand sign. my chakra and with a puff of smoke I took on the appearance of Daisuke-san, Kurawara-sensei and Hokage-sama.

"Very good." he said.

"Next the **Kawarimi no Jutsu **(substitution justu)." he said, picking up a blunt kunai. He threw it and without hand signs I substituted with one of the nearby logs. I did this 4 more times before he was satisfied.

"Okay and now the **bushin no jutsu **(clone jutsu) , 3 will do." he said.

I formed the hand sign and suddenly 3 virtual images of myself appeared beside me in a puff of smoke.

"Excellent." the instructor praised. "Now before we finish are there any more justu you know that are not part of the academy curriculum.?"

"Yes," I responded. "several D rank katon justu, 1 currently C rank and 2 B rank."

"Congratulations Orion, you pass with flying colours." he said smiling. "You may step forward and take your hitai-ate." I stepped forward and took it. It was shiny and had black cloth. I put it on my forehead and tired it around.

"You are now officially a Shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. Again, congratulations."

"Thank you sensei." I said grinning like a madman.

Everyone was once again seated in the classroom. The instructor was about to make an announcement;

"Everyone is to come to this room at 12:00 p.m. sharp tomorrow in order to get assigned your teams and jonin sensei. That is all, you may leave."

Before everyone left, I looked around and saw that everyone had passed, all 18 students.

Everyone made it outside and were greeted by parents, older siblings, aunts and uncles to congratulate and praise them. I looked to my left and saw Daisuke hugging who looked like his father. I suddenly felt my heart go tight, anger and sadness filled my body. Anger at the masked man, and sadness because I had wanted to share this very moment with my family. The emblem on my back felt more like a burden than anything ever had before.

I'm about to walk quickly away before I heard someone call my name;

"Orion-kun!" somebody bellowed.

I turned around and saw Kurawara-sensei waving me over. I smiled and walked over to her, happy to have someone to share this with.

"Congratulations on passing Orion." she smiled.

"Thank you sensei, I appreciate you coming here for me." I said to her.

"Nonsense Orion, it's my pleasure, but in all seriousness don't make me regret letting you take this test. No going out on your first C ranked mission and getting killed by a bandit you hear me, I want to see you grow into a fine Shinobi."

Her words make tears come to my eyes. It's nice knowing that there is still someone out there who still cares about me.

"Thank you sensei, for everything you did for me." I said, meaning it with every single fibre of my being.

"Your welcome. Well I'd best be getting back to class Orion. I'll see you around." she said, almost knowingly.

"Yes, goodbye sensei." I said

I left the academy grounds, there was one thing I must still do.

********BREAK********

I walked towards the cemetery where all the victims of the Uchiha massacre were buried. I had 3 bouquets of red roses in my hands as I made my way to the resting place of my father, mother and sister. I placed the roses on each of their graves and sat. I didn't say anything, I just sat there, looking at their gravestones.

**Chapter 3 finished. What did you all think of Kurawara Yukino, and what do you think happened? Leave reviews of you're opinions if you want. Until next time.**


	4. The Team

**Thanks to everyone who had reviewed and followed, I wasn't expecting as many so quick.**

**Could anyone give me any suggestion for male Japanese names, I could use some help with that. Thank you, and on with the story.**

**Chapter 4: The Team**

The next morning Orion woke up and once again going through his morning rituals. He used the extra time to practice chakra control for 3 hours, with some success. His tree climbing had improved greatly, now able to make it 35 metres up a 50 meter tree. He had the smart idea of using the sharingan to analyse his chakra output and adjust it accordingly. It was an unofficial rule that you only mastered the tree climbing exercise when you can stand and fight on a vertical surface for one hour.

When 11:30 came around Orion was ready to leave for the academy. He arrived at 11:45 and was happy to finally begin his career as a Shinobi of Konoha. He took the seat he had yesterday and waited. The instructor from yesterday came into the room and stood in front of the class, and like yesterday everybody went silent;

"Today you all will be divided up into teams of three and from henceforth will be under the tutelage of an elite jonin of Konoha. Do yourselves and the village proud."

He then began to list off the teams and who their sensei would be"

"Team 1: Yuri Ami, Amagai Shusuke, and Shinobu Ganmaru, your jonin sensei will be Maito Gai."

"Team 2: Muramasa Daisuke, Uchiha Orion, and Nara Momohime, your jonin sensei will be Kurawara Tobirama."

Orion stopped paying attention after this and decided to evaluate what he knew of his team: Daisuke he knew was very good in taijustsu, and the name Muramasa sounded familiar, but he just couldn't place it. Anyway, he looked over to him, taking in his tall but skinny figure unruly black hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a black long sleeved jacket, black 3 quarter pants, and black sandals. He also had a weapons pouch on his upper left arm and right thigh. There gazes met each other. Daisuke nodded, showing that he wasn't disappointed in having Orion on his team. Orion nodded back, then he put up 3 fingers and shrugged his shoulders, asking if Daisuke knew their teams third member. Daisuke gestured to the seat in front of himself. Orion nodded in thanks and took in the girl sitting in front of Daisuke. She had pitch black hair tied up in pony-tail, black eyes and a cheerful expression on her face, a great contrast to the bored aura a Nara would usually give off. She wore green camouflage shorts and a dark green t-shirt tucked into her shorts. She had pouches on either side of waist. However what struck him most was their sensei's name, particularly the Kurawara part. Could he be related to Kurawara Yukino-sensei?

After all of the teams were called out the sensei began to collect their students. Maito Gai was quite a shock to his system, having a black bowl haircut with white on the rim, a green full-body spandex jumpsuit, orange legwarmers, and a toothy smile with sparkling teeth.

"AAAAALRIGHT! Team one follow me and show me your FLAMES OF YOUTH!" he bellowed. Everyone in the room sweatdropped, while team 1 were still coming to terms with the fact that they just got a nutjob for a sensei.

Eventually their sensei showed up as well, and when he did there was no doubt in his mind hewas related to Yukino. They looked really similar same ginger hair and everything, except his was far shorter.

"Team 2?" he called. "To training ground 2." The three of us got up and went with the man. He had on black sandals, black three quarter pants, a sleeveless dark red shirt over which was a green flack jacket. He had his hitai-ate put onto the hip of his flack jacket.

As we walked through the academy halls I asked him;

"Sensei, are you related to Kurawara Yukino by any chance?"

Without looking back he responded; "Yeah, she's my older sister. Why do you ask?" he responded.

"She was my sensei in the academy." I answered.

"So you went straight from one Kurawara to another eh, what great fortune you have." he said sarcastically.

"Oh oodles. The odds of life always seem to shine in my favour." he said rolling his eyes.

Eventually they made it to the training field.

Orion's POV

"Alright," he said suddenly turning around and sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. "everyone tell me their name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams for the future. Short stuff your first." I glared at him for the demeaning nick-name.

"Why don't you go first, Tobirama sensei." I said to him.

"Alright," he said. " my name is Kurawara Tobirama, named after the Nidaime Hokage, I like sunbathing, barbeque, and any spicy food. I dislike winter, ice cream and rain. My hobbies are training and trying spicy food from foreign lands. My dream for the future is to die in service to my village, in the line of duty." He said. "Now you go Short Stuff." I once again glared at him;

"My name is Uchiha Orion, I like training and...more training, I dislike things that impede my progress, being woken up needlessly, and people judging me, especially when they have clipboards." everyone looked at me weirdly. "I don't know what it is about clipboards so don't bother asking. My hobby is training. My dream for the future...," I thought about it before saying; "is not a dream, just an event that is waiting to take place." I unconsciously grit my teeth and balled my hands into fists. "I am going to kill the one responsible for the deaths of those most precious to me.". Tobirama-sensei looked at me with pity. His face didn't show it but his eyes did. I was used to it, when I walk thorough the streets of Konoha most of the looks I get are of pity. From what Sasuke told me he got the same treatment too.

Daisuke POV

"Okay you there, the one who looks like he's the poster boy for goth band." Tobirama-sensei said to me. I raised an eyebrow at him. Sure I dressed in all black but a lot of Shinobi did. I sighed.

"My name is Muramasa Daisuke, I like training in kenjutsu and I dislike arrogant people. My hobby is training and forging swords. My dream is to one day become a kenjutsu master."

I decided to keep it brief and to the point, knowing the complete opposite will come of my teammate. She was in my class in the academy and I knew she was extremely talkative.

Momohime POV

"Anti-Nara your up."

I smiled at the anti-Nara comment. It was true though, the Nara are known for there general lack of enthusiasm and laziness, where as I was not. However I still had the intelligence one would expect from a Nara, not as great as most Nara, but better than the average person.

"My name is Nara Momohime, I'm 12 years old, my favourite colour is green, my favourite animal is wolves, I'm the 6th heir of the Nara clan, I love charades and quizzes, not pop-quizzes though, my hobbies include swimming, origami, reading aloud to children and the elderly and wrestling!" I stopped and looked at each of my teammates in turn, taking in their reactions. Daisuke was indifferent, Orion stared wide eyed and sensei was grinning.

"My dream for the future is to become a genjutsu master and serve the Nara clan to the best of my ability."

Tobirama POV

"With that out of the way onto the main event!" I said while standing up. "It is time to see if you'll actually make it to genin." I said, grinning at their faces. They all had looks of confusion on their cute little faces. 'It's time to change them to expressions of horror.' I though sadisticaly.

"The genin exam you took in the academy was a sort of...preliminary, to select genin candidates. In order to pass your assigned jonin sensei will test you. Oh, and if you fail you get sent back to the academy. So in other words your future as Shinobi is decided by me. " I smirked at then with a shit-eating on my face. I take joy in their horrified expressions.

"So what test are you going to give us sensei?" Orion asked me through grit teeth.

"Quite simple really, all three of you must touch my body at once."

They all looked at me, thinking it would be easy, but wait until they hear what I have to say next;

"But there are a few conditions, you each have one specific handicap that if you break it, it is an automatic fail."

Normal POV

Tobirama took out a blindfold, ear-muffs and a roll of bandages. He walked over to Orion.

"You are not allowed to use those eyes of yours." he said tying the blindfold around Orion's eyes.

"You are not allowed to hear anything." he said putting the muffs on Daisuke's ears. "These have special seals on them that cancel out sound."

"And finally, you are not allowed to talk, Miss Chatterbox." he said while wrapping the bandages around Momohime's mouth.

"You have until 14:00. It is now 12:36, 1 hour and 24 minutes. Remember, it must be all three of you at once. HAJIME!" he yelled.

Daisuke quickly took out a scroll from his leg pouch and unsealed a katana. The guard was designed to look like a lotus, the hilt was black and wrapped in red cloth, and the blade was standard length and shining. He grabbed the katana mid-air, pocketed the scroll and held the katana with both hands.

Orion simply took out a kunai, not knowing what else to do without his vision.

Momohime crouched and made the rat hand sign.

Daisuke charged forward, swinging his sword in a powerful arc, aiming to take Tobirama's head off. Tobirama casually dodged the swings of the fine blade, making it look like childsplay. Momohime took this opportunity to send out a shadow, hoping to catch her sensei. However her range and manoeuvreability was not great with it. Tobirama easily jumped out of the way.

**"Shakuton: Nami** (Scorch Release: Wave)." Tobirama said. A hot wave of wind blew over the three, blowing them all to the ground and giving them very minor burns.

"That kiddies, was the **Shakuton **(Scorch release). My kekkei genkai."

Orion frowned, but you couldn't see it. Daisuke didn't react because he couldn't hear it. Momohime gasped, but it was muffled.

"Time to step up my game!" Daisuke said, a little loudly. He swung his blade at his maybe sensei again, but this time an arc of flames followed its trail. "This sword was forged by my great-great-grandfather in **Tetsu no Kuni** (Land of Iron), Muramasa Kisuru, the greatest forger of blades in centuries!" he declared.

"Fascinating." Tobirama said, not that it mattered.

While this was happening Momohime was trying to disrupt her maybe sensei's chakra network and catch him in a genjutsu. Tobirama just shrugged off the genjutsu but this caused him to fumble for a split second, allowing Daisuke to get a decent hit that Tobirama had to block with a kunai but was melted by the heat. He jumped back to gain some ground. 'They may be just genin candidates but they are skilled, two of them at least.' Tobirama thought, impressed at their skills. He eyed Momohime, seeing her form a tiger hand sign, then Daisuke suddenly jumped back mid-swing. 'Odd.' he thought before feeling an intense heat come from his right side. He saw a giant ball flames originating from Orion come at him. He jumped out of its trajectory before once again looking at Momohime, she was farther back than before.

'Why would she jump back when the reach of her jutsu is already so limited.' he wondered.

Daisuke once again came at him, sword prepared to bisect his maybe sensei. Once again Tobirama easily dodged. This continued for another few minutes before both Momohime and Orion flanked their maybe sensei, Orion on the left, Momohime on the right. They stopped for a second before turning towards him. They started running again both making a series of hand signs before Momohime and Daisuke suddenly jumped away, leaving Orion to shoot a stream of flames, vaguely resembling a dragon, at his maybe sensei. Instead of dodging he decided to counter with his own **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique). They cancelled each other out and when it resolved Orion just stood there.

Another came at him but this time it was Momohime with a kunai in each hand. Her taijustsu was nowhere near the level of Daisuke's, but it was fairly decent for someone who was only a genin candidate. He decided it was high time he went on the offensive a little. He delivered a strong kick to Momohime, sending her into a tree, a muffled yelp coming from her. Tobirama then created a whip of red fire in his hand. He then aimed the whip at Orion who was quickly grabbed by Daisuke and brought out of harms way.

The three then grouped together, all breathing rather heavily, Momohime especially. Then something odd happened, Daisuke picked up Orion and placed him on his shoulders, but Momohime was making the movements too.

'Why would she be...Of course!' Tobirama thought. 'The **Kagemane no Jutsu **(Shadow Possession jutsu). That explains it. How Orion knew where to go and where to direct, and how Daisuke made his escapes, but after using it so much she must be feeling exhausted. This is very impressive for a team that only got put together literally yesterday.' Tobirama thought.

He looked at the sun. "Only half an hour left kiddies." the maybe sensei said.

Daisuke once again ran at Tobirama with his sword pointed forward. Tobirama noticed that his movements were slow and sluggish. 'That is to be expected after an hour of fighting and having to carry another person on his back.' Tobirama said in his head. He took out a kunai and channelled his **Shakuton **(Scorch Release) chakra into it. It extended into a sword of flames to match Daisuke's in length. The blades met blows a couple of times before Tobirama knocked the katana out of Daisuke's hands. Momohime then began to run forward as Daisuke jumped backwards throwing shuriken, Momohime doing the same. He blocked them easily.

Something weird happened the moment Daisuke's feet he hit the ground: he took Orion from his shoulders and threw him at Tobirama, yes threw. Tobirama was so stunned by the action that he didn't dodge the human projectile. The second Orion hit him he wrapped his legs around the mans chest and arms around his head. Tobirama dropped the kunai and tried to pull the child of him. He would have succeeded too if his legs weren't tackled. He fell to the ground and as he did he felt someone step on his abdomen. They had won.

They stayed like that for a couple of seconds before Tobirama declared in a muffled voice; "You pass kiddos."

They each ripped of their respective impairments before celebrating their passing.

"YESOHMYGODICAN'TBELIEVEWEPASSEDTHATWASSOHARD!" Momohime yelled, letting go of her sensei's legs andjumping up and down.

"That was quite a workout Tobirama-sensei." Daisuke said while retrieving and resealing his sword in a scroll.

"You threw me." Orion stated, glaring at Daisuke, who either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Let's go to lunch, my treat, as your new sensei." Tobirama declared.

The new team then went back to the village to find somewhere to eat lunch.

********BREAK********

The next day all the sensei of the genin candidates were gathered in a room with the Hokage.

"Jonin, step forward and inform us of your squad." the Hokage said with authority in his voice.

"Team 1: sensei- Maito Guy: Yuri Ami, Amagai Shusuke, and Shinobu Ganmaru, fail." Guy said.

"Team 2: sensei- Kurawara Tobirama: Uchiha Orion, Muramasa Daisuke, Nara Yukino, pass.

After that it was found out that Team 2 was the only team that passed. After everyone was dismissed the Hokage called to Tobirama;

"Tobirama-kun, keep an eye on Orion." he ordered.

"Yes sir." he then bowed and left.

**I hope y'all enjoyed. Tell me what you thought of the fight scene please. Until next time.**


	5. The Training

**Some of you have been asking for more interaction with Sasuke and that the way I handled it wasn't great. I appreciate the feedback but don't worry I have a plan for the whole Sasuke thing, whether or not you'll like it is another story.**

**This is my longest chapter yet.**

**Anyway, on with the story.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Training**

* * *

It had been three weeks since team 2 had passed their true genin exam. They had each been given a new timetable they had to follow to the letter, or 'bad things' could happen, according to their sensei at least.

They had to get to the training field at 07:00 each morning, do six hours of training, consisting of mainly physical exercises, until 13:00 before going to the Hokage tower and receiving the boring D-rank missions all genin had to endure. They even had to track down the legendary cat of the Daimyo's wife, Tora, that even their sensei had stories about. How that cat had a lifespan as long as it did was a mystery. That was probably one of the most dangerous D-rank missions of all time, and Daisuke had the scars to prove it.

It was the teams 22nd day of formation and they had finished their daily D-rank. Tobirama decided to up the ante of their training. He decided to move onto chakra control.

"Okay kiddies, it time to move onto the more advanced forms of the ninja arts: chakra control. I can tell already you all have decent chakra control, with your eyes and fire, you sword of magical flames and your genjutsu talent." he said, pointing to each of his students in turn. "Do any of you know the tree climbing exercise?" he asked.

"I've mastered it." Orion said.

"I haven't tried it, but I'm eager to try it sensei, it sounds like it will be really useful. Hey how hard will it be? I'm always up for a challenge!" said Momohime eagerly.

"I don't know it." Daisuke said.

"You know what mastered means, right Orion?" Tobirama asked his youngest students.

"One hour fighting on a vertical surface." he responded.

"For someone who specializes in genjutsu it should be easy for you." he asked the young kunoichi.

"AWWW!" Momohime said annoyed.

"You should get the hang of it pretty quickly, you seem to have larger reserves of chakra so it might take a while." Tobirama told Daisuke.

"Now Orion, you go pick a tree and climb it. You two follow me." Tobirama said.

The three of them walked over to two tall trees. "The soles of the feet are the most difficult place to channel chakra. What you do is channel your chakra to feet and use it to cling to the tree. Use too much and you'll force yourself off the tree, use too little and you'll fall off." Tobirama explained while demonstrating the technique.

"Go try it and call me if you need help." he said walking away.

"Orion-kun,"

"Yes sensei?"

"Come here, we're going to try something new for you."

Orion jumped from the tree he was standing on, landing in front of his sensei.

"Yes sensei?" Orion asked, looking up at his sensei.

"Come with me to the nearby lake, we're going to get you to walk on water." he informed Orion.

"Um, okay?" he agreed, thinking his sensei was losing it.

Just before they were about to leave Tobirama made a cross sign with his middle and index fingers, then another Tobirama came into existence in a puff of smoke. _'That wasn't the hand sign for the __**bushin**__**no jutsu **__(clone technique).' _Orion thought. He then walked up to the Tobirama clone and poked him in the side.

"It's a tangible clone!" Orion said surprised. "Yes it is gaki, it's called a **kage bushin** (shadow clone), congratulations for being able to tell whether or not you can feel something." Tobirama said, his voice oozing with sarcasm.

"Can you teach it to me?" Orion asked, showing no sign of hearing his sensei.

"Not right now, it requires an abundance of chakra. Even Hokage-sama would only be able make 2 or three 3 clones right now, though in his prime he would have been able to make as many as ten." he informed his student.

"So all I need to do is increase my chakra reserves, right?"

"You make it sound simple. In order to use the** kage bushin no jutsu** (shadow clone technique) efficiently and still be fit for battle you would need to increase your reserves by a significant amount." he said.

"Damn!" Orion cursed.

They made their way through the forest to the lake.

"Alright Orion, strip." Tobirama commanded.

"What!?" Orion yelled.

"You're practicing walking on water, so unless you think you'll get it on the first try I'd advise you take off your clothes so you can go home dry." Tobirama said sternly.

Orion then proceeded to strip down to his boxers, shivering a little due to air.

"Activate your sharingan and see how I do it." he said walking towards the water. "You need to channel your chakra to the soles of your feet and emit a constant stream of it, adjusting the stream constantly to stay afloat. Got it?" he stated, turning from his point on the water to look at his student.

"Got it." Orion stated.

"Oh, and one more thing," Tobirama said, kneeling down, placing the palm of his hand on the surface of the water, his other forming a hand sign. "This is to motivate you to learn." he stated while the water began to steam all around them. Orion dipped one foot into the water, taking it out almost instantly. "It's boiling!" Orion stated. Tobirama just grinned.

Orion continued staring at his sensei's feet before walking onto it himself. He placed one foot into the water and winced before placing his other foot in. Although he could stand in the water, the surface was only around the middle of his calves. He took a step forward, constantly looking at his sensei's feet. The surface was still around his calves.

"That is very good for your first attempt Orion-kun." Tobirama said suddenly, causing Orion to lose his concentration and fall into the boiling water.

"AHHH!" Orion yelled, jumping from the water and onto dry land. Tobirama laughed loudly at his students' suffering. "Asshole." Orion said under his breath."I heard that gaki." Tobirama said, trying to keep a straight face and failing. "But seriously you're doing very well for your first time." Tobirama complimented, ceasing his fit of giggles. He then walked off the surface of the water.

"Thanks sensei." Orion sighed. He then proceeded to walk back on the surface of the water. Tobirama then lay down on the ground and took out a book with an orange cover. _'My friend recommended this, saying it was written by Jiraiya, the Gama Sennin. Time to see if he's as good a writer as he is a shinobi.' _He then began to read the book, tuning out everything except the various splashes, at which point he smirked. After about an hour and six chapters of nothing Tobirama decided to check on his student. When he did he was surprised to see that Orion was nearly completely standing on the water, the surface around his ankles. He also noticed the steam had gone down. He put the book down and tested the heat of the water. _'It's only lukewarm.' _he thought while reheating the water. Orion took notice of this and lost his concentration again, resulting in another loud splash. Orion then quickly stood ankle deep in the water glaring at his sensei.

"You're a wonderful person sensei." Orion said dryly.

"Aren't I." Tobirama responded. The sensei once again leaned back and continued reading. After half an hour Tobirama held the book at arms length and used his chakra to burn the book. _'What the hell is Jiraiya, one of the legendary sannin, doing writing such filth as this!? Many young shinobi look up to him and __**this,**__ is the kind of example he's setting?' _Tobirama thought angrily. He decided to forget about the 'literature' and focus on his student. When he did he was pleasantly surprised to see that Orion was perfectly walking on the surface of the water. He smiled at his students' progress.

It was then he suddenly received the memories of his **kage bushin** (shadow clone). He got up and went through a series of hand signs. "**Doton: Doryūheki** (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)." he yelled. Orion looked over at his sensei to see him using a kunai to carve circles into a wall of earth. When he finished it looked like a target, complete with a '+' at the very centre.

"Orion I want you to use this for target practice while standing on the water. When you can do that I want you to use it while running. Got it." Tobirama said to Orion.

"Got it." Orion said.

Tobirama picked up Orion's pouch and threw it to the boy. He caught it and attached it to his boxers. Tobirama then made his way through the forest to where his other two students were training. When he got there he saw Momohime standing there waiting for him and Daisuke running up and down a heavily marked tree. He then fell flat on his face when he turned to run down. "SENSEI," Momohime yelled as she ran towards her sensei. "I've mastered the tree walking technique. I've been running up and down for like an hour throwing kunai and shuriken at your clone. I didn't hit him but I made him have to leap out of the way a few times. It was fun throwing sharp things at you!" she said that last part with a grin.

"Gee thanks Momo-chan, I'm glad you take joy at the thought of impaling me." he said, feigning hurt.

"Oh sorry Tobirama-sensei, I didn't mean it that way, I only meant that it's fun learning from you!" she said trying to make her sensei feel better, but immediately stopped when her sensei started giggling.

"You're mean sensei, you really should get some therapy for your sadistic streaks, I know a guy, I went to one when I was younger because my parents were concerned with how energetic I was when constantly surrounded by lazy unenthusiastic Nara's!" she said while crossing her arms.

"I'll think about it." he said, not meaning a single word of it. "Anyway you start making your way through the forest to the lake. Orion is there and he'll help you with the next step. Oh and when you master it the two of you should start sparring on the water, okay."

"Okay sensei!" she said as she took off running towards the lake.

Tobirama walked to where Daisuke was laying. He got up and looked at his sensei with a bloody nose. "You're getting there." Tobirama said.

"Yeah, but I wished it didn't mean so many bloody noses." he deadpanned.

"Get up and show me what you've got Daisuke-kun."

Daisuke got up and started walking up the tree eventually breaking into a run. He ran up and down the length of the tree 5 times before slipping, but this time he was prepared and landed on his feet.

"Well keep going!" Tobirama said.

With Momohime and Orion

Momohime stopped running when she saw the lake. She was greeted by the sight of a half naked Orion running around the lake throwing kunai at the lake. She didn't care he was skantly clad, but he did. As soon as his eyes met hers he blushed a deep red.

"So this is the next step after tree climbing, eh Orion-kun. Seems simple enough, show me how it's done." she said brightly.

"Um..." Orion said, still blushing.

"Well come on don't just stand there like a tomato, teach me your wisdom Oh great Uchiha!" she said dramatically.

"Like a tomato, really?" Orion questioned.

"Yeah like a tomato, you're blushing like crazy. Are you embarrassed because I'm a girl and you're only wearing your underwear? If so then I have a solution!" Momohime said eagerly. She then began to remove her shirt revealing a mesh vest, and camouflage shorts, revealing mesh undergarments.

"Momohime-chan stop it!" Orion said crossing, his arms over his eyes and blushing even deeper.

"What? If I fall into the water I'll get my clothes wet, this prevents that." she responded. Besides, we're teammates, we should always feel comfortable around each other no matter what, right?" Momohime questioned.

"I suppose." His blush going down a little.

"So anyway, back to my earlier question: How. Do. You. Walk. On. Water?" she questioned, saying each word slowly.

"Oh yeah. You channel a constant stream of chakra to your feet, adjusting the flow of chakra to match the movement of the water." Orion informed his teammate.

"Okay, it seems simple enough. If you can do it then I certainly can. I mean, my chakra control is way better than yours." she smirked.

"I won't argue with that, but it's only because I have more chakra than you." Orion rebutted.

"Touche, Orion-kun." Momohime looked at Orion grinning. She then stepped onto the lake, managing to keep the water surface at her ankles.

"Oh look at that, I'm already getting the hang of it. How long did it take for you to get this far Orion-kun." she said smirking.

"Oh shaddup!" Orion said, throwing another kunai.

Momohime continued to walk around the lake for the next half an hour, Orion was still running and jumping, throwing kunai and shuriken at the earthen target, which was now covered in weapons. At this point Momohime was walking perfectly on the water.

"Hey Orion-kun, I'm walking perfectly on the water now, sensei said we should start sparring when I've got this down, so let's go at it." Momohime said.

"Okay Momo-chan." Orion said, throwing one last kunai.

The two got into fighting stances, preparing to fight each other. They charged at each other exchanging punches and kicks, leaping all around the lake until they didn't even realise that they were on the water, it had become almost like second nature.

This went on for another hour before they heard a voice say;

"Aww, young love."

They both turned to see Tobirama-sensei and Daisuke standing at the edge of the lake, Tobirama with a smirk on his face.

"SHE'S 3 YEARS OLDER THAN ME!" Orion yelled.

Orion blushed while Momohime just grinned back at him.

"Oh yes, he's my super-duper-uber-kawai little man." Momohime said pulling Orion into a hug. He only blushed deeper.

"HAHAHAHA, that, is, priceless!" Tobirama said, hands on knees, laughing uncontrollably. Daisuke just stood there, blushing also.

"Anyway kiddies," Tobirama said, regaining his composer, "pack up and head home. Get here at the usual the way, the itinerary for tomorrow is as follows: Daisuke, you're going to learn the water walking technique, Momohime, I'm going to get a friend who specialises in genjutsu to train you, and Orion, you'll be working on learning a ninjutsu with me."

The two on the water got redressed and the three began to walk away.

"Orion-kun, stay back for a moment would you." Tobirama asked.

"What is it sensei?" Orion asked.

"Here channel your chakra into this." he said, handing Orion a small rectangular piece of paper.

"Why?" the boy asked.

"It will tell us what your chakra nature is." Tobirama answered.

"It's probably going to be fire." Orion stated, channelling his chakra into the paper. It crumpled in on itself.

"What does that mean sensei?" Orion asked his sensei.

"It means you have a lightning nature, which is probably the second most common elemental nature in **Hi no Kuni** (Land of Fire)." he responded.

* * *

********Break********

* * *

The next day team 2, sans Tobirama, were at their training field at 08:24 waiting for their sensei.

"Why is he late? He's always telling us 'bad things' will happen if we don't keep to the timetable! I think we ought to do something about his hypocritical behaviour! What say you boys?" Momohime declared passionately.

"What do you suppose we do Momo-chan?" Daisuke asked. Orion also looked at her.

"Well..." she said devilishly, explaining her plan to the boys.

With Tobirama and Kurenai

"Thank you for agreeing to help with my students' training Kurenai-chan, I really appreciate it." Tobirama said to his companion as they made their way to the training field.

"If by agree you mean blackmailed into then yes, screw you, you sadistic asshole." she responded with a glare.

"Why pay attention to the small details like that when you have the opportunity to pass your knowledge onto the next generation." he said with a smile.

"You make me sound ancient, and I can do that during my actual job, unless you've forgotten!"

"Oh yes I know, Hyuuga heiress and all that, but this way you don't have to work with a bunch of snobbish elitists." he said, with a little bit of venom in his voice.

Kurenai sighed. "Just don't forget your promise to give it back afterwards." she reminded him.

"Of course of course." he said with a smirk. "But you should be more careful in the future." he snickered. Kurenai then punched him in the head, sending him flying into a tree.

"Jackass!" she mumbled.

With Team 2

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Daisuke yelled at Momohime.

"I thought sensei was sadistic Momohime-chan but this is just...wrong. No amount of tardiness warrants something so horrible." Orion said, holding himself and shivering.

"Well excuuuuse me! I didn't know it was a crime to be creative in Konoha." she said with a huff.

"Momo-chan, there's creative, then there's just plain evil." Daisuke told her. "Learn to differentiate!" he ordered.

"You guys are no fun." she said crossing her arms.

It was all a moot point as their sensei along with a young woman appeared, the woman looking annoyed and their sensei nursing a bleeding wound on his head. So all in all nothing too much out of the ordinary: their sensei pissed someone off.

"Good morning kiddies. Sorry for being late but I just had to locate this one and convince her to come here today." he said gesturing to Kurenai.

"My name is Yuhi Kurenai. I'm pleased to meet all of you." she said, bowing her head. "So which one of you is Momohime-san?" she asked, not really needing to.

"That would be me Kurenai-sensei. Are you a genjutsu master? What genjutsu are you going to teach me? Will they be hard to learn? I'm always up for a good challenge. Come, let us take our leave of these annoying men and delve into the art of genjutsu, swapping womanly stories and creating ways to simulate the pain of having ones testicles ripped clean off the body!" Momohime declared, taking Kurenai by the hand and leading her into the nearby trees.

"Yes let's." she responded, shooting a vicious glare at Tobirama. He shivered and unconsciously put a hand over his manhood. The two women then went into the woods.

"What did you two do to piss her off? I mean, Kurenai has a reason to want to rip my balls off but why does Momohime want to rip yours off?" Tobirama inquired.

"She wanted to get revenge on you for being hypocritically late and when she told us her plan we said she was even more sadistic than you." Daisuke informed.

"Oh kiddies, very few are more sadistic than I, let alone a 12 year old girl. Tell me what her plan was."

The boys retold Momohime's story and this was there sensei's response;

"That's it, that's what convinced you Momohime was more sadistic than me!?" Tobirama said in disbelief. "I've done worse than that many times. Anyway, on with your training." he then proceeded to make a** kage bushin** (shadow clone).

"Daisuke, you and the clone will go to the lake to learn the water walking technique. Orion you will stay here with me to learn your first raiton jutsu." Tobirama declared. Then Daisuke and the clone left for the river.

"Okay Orion let's get started." Tobirama said to the boy.

"So what jutsu will I be learning sensei? Will I be able to use it to fry someone alive, and protect myself if necessary." he said, his hands also unconsciously moving to protect valuables.

"Not with this jutsu, at the level you'll be using it it'll only give your opponents a mild electric shock, but it'll be a good stepping stone for learning raiton. It's called **Heki no Jutsu **(Burst Technique)."

"Okay Sensei. How's it done?" Orion asked.

"You vent electrical chakra from your entire body, anyone that attacks or touches you will receive an electric shock. You have to stay perfectly still though."

"Okay, here it goes!" Orion said, forming a ram sign and closing his eyes in concentration. A very light crackle could be heard. Small flickers of electricity flared off Orion's body. Tobirama placed his hand on Orion's back, feeling a very mild shock, not nearly enough to ward off an enemy.

"More chakra Orion, what you've got is not enough to even scare away a fly." Tobirama deadpanned. Orion then pumped more chakra into the jutsu, enough to cause a sudden increase and shock Tobirama's hand off.

"Very good Orin," the boy smirked. "now keep it at that level for 20 minutes." Orion's smirk disappeared.

Every 3 minutes Tobirama placed his hand on another part of Orion's body to make sure he could generate a shock everywhere. The sensei wasn't disappointed as the intensity of the shock increased all over the boy. After 20 minutes Tobirama was satisfied with the level of the jutsu.

"Okay Orion that's enough, time to move onto something else." Tobirama said.

"Only half an hour and I've already mastered a jutsu, how's that for talented?" Orion bragged.

"Don't get cocky gaki, that was only a measly D-rank, it can't even be used efficiently in battle." Tobirama said.

"At least let me have my moment Sensei. Sheesh." Orion said with a pout.

"Alright new jutsu!" Tobirama said exubrtantly.

"Really already?" Orion said surprised.

"Well if you want we could stay on this boring D-rank jutsu that you already pretty much got down, or we could move onto a C-rank jutsu that you can actually use in fight. Your choice really but it'd make my job more interesting if I got to teach you more interesting stuff." Tobirama explained.

"You don't need to be such a smartass about it." Orion grumbled.

"Ya know you should consider yourself lucky to have me as a sensei, you wouldn't get away with comments like that with others." Tobirama reprimanded.

"Yes Sensei." Orion said begrudgingly. "So what's the new jutsu?" Orion asked.

"It's called the **Raiton: Yaiba** (Lightning Release: Blade)." Tobirama said.

"Okay, Sensei. How do ya do it." Orion asked.

"Uhh...one second." Tobirama said, turning his back to his student. "Uhh, oh yes, there it is." Tobirama turned back to Orion. "You start with the signs: Dog, boar, ram, snake, dog, ox, dragon, tiger, rat, ram. You then concentrate your chakra on the blade of your hand, the tip of your middle finger, down the side of your hand, to the middle part between your wrist and elbow. Then you extend the chakra out by 2 or 3 inches and then forward. The end result will take the form of a blade. The more chakra you put into it and the better control you have, the longer and stronger it will be. You got all that?" Tobirama asked.

"Yes I got it. Thank you sensei."

Orion did the hand signs and concentrated his chakra in the side of his arm. A thin layer of crackling light blue formed on his arm. He used his sharingan to analyse the chakra, which made it easier to adjust. He then extended the layer to 2 inches thick and smirked as he began to break out in a sweat. He then focused on extending his chakra forward. He stretched it as far as it would go, which was only 4 inches. He started breathing heavily. _'Damn this is hard.' _he thought_. _Then suddenly his sensei hit a kunai against his jutsu and the lightning shattered.

"What the hell Sensei!?" Orion said as he glared at Tobirama.

"I want that jutsu of yours to be able to stand up to Daisuke-kun's sword. Got it."

"Got it." Orion responded.

"Speaking of Daisuke I'm going to check on his progress. Keep going." Tobirama ordered.

"Yes Sensei." Orion said as he once again went through the hand signs.

Tobirama went through the forest until he got to the lake. He saw Daisuke in his boxers trying to stay balanced on the water, which was to his lower calves at this point. "Daisuke-kun," Tobirama called, which made him fall into the water. "AHHH FUCK THAT'S HOT!" Daisuke yelled.

"Yes Sensei?" he asked, looking very unimpressed while glaring through his wet hair that was hanging over his eyes. "How's your progress?" Tobirama asked with a smirk. "It was fine until you showed up!" Daisuke said. "What is it with these guys and not respecting me?" he asked no-one, giving his clone the signal to dispel.

"Anyway Daisuke-kun your doing fine. If you keep going at this rate you'll have it down in a couple days."

"Thanks." he responded, standing up again.

_'Things are getting pretty boring, maybe I should ask Hokage-sama for a solo mission, just to get away for a bit.' _

Tobirama thought.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

"My Lord, here's a status report on the Uchiha boy." a woman said, bowing to her lord and handing him an envelope.

"Ah excellent, thank you Miyako-chan. You are dismissed." the woman's face brightened at the acknowledgment and left the room still in the bow.

The man opened the envelope and smiled a macabre smile at what he read.

_'Itachi may be out of my grasp, but I still have two reserves, and this one is coming along nicely.'_ the man thought. "The sharingan will be** mine**!" he said aloud.

* * *

**So what does everyone think of Orochimaru coming into the equation? If anyone doesn't like it then tough, he's already a big part of the story I have planned out. **

**Anyway tell me your thoughts. What do you think of Daisuke, Momohime and Tobirama? I really want to know about them.**

**Until next time.**


	6. The Mission

**Hey all. I noticed a few discrepancies in chapter 3 and re-uploaded it so you should check it out.**

**I'm sorry for the wait for this chapter, it came very slowly to me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I own Orion, Kurawara Tobirama, Daisuke, Momohime, Kurawara Yukino and the others.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Mission**

* * *

It had been another month since Tobirama had decided to step up the teams training. Momohime was training with Kurenai at least twice a week and was showing great improvement. Daisuke had mastered the water walking exercise and was now learning katon jutsu to compliment his kenjutsu. Orion was now learning more raiton jutsu, and he was getting the hang of them fairly quickly. He had mastered the **Raiton: Yaiba** (Lightning Release: Blade) to the point where it could stand up to Daisuke's blade. However Daisuke was far superior in wielding his blade than Orion.

Orion had also learned and mastered the **Raiton: Raikou Hitofuki no Jutsu** (Lightning Release: Lightning Blast Technique), a C-rank jutsu. It was done by condensing chakra into the palm of the dominant hand, which for Orion was the left, and then releasing it in a forced burst. The more chakra condensed the broader and faster the blast. It took him three weeks to get it to a battleworthy level.

The other jutsu he was learning was the **Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu** (Pure Lightning Kunai Technique) a B-rank. It was basically what the name suggested. It was meant to be 4 kunai, 1 between each finger, of pure lightning. The key word there was _meant. _He could only manage 1 kunai that he could use in battle, and that one was fairly shoddy. The jutsu was damaging his fingers when constantly used so he had bandages always wrapped around them.

After their morning training team 2 was on their way to the Hokage tower.

"Tobirama-sensei I don't mean to complain but we have been doing nothing but boring D-ranks for 7 weeks, that's nearly 50 D-ranks, basically 50 chores for the village, I mean I know we have to do them and all but when can we move onto something more challenging? A C-rank perhaps." Momohime questioned.

"Actually I was already considering getting you a simple C-rank mission, nothing to much, something to get you out of the village." Tobirama replied.

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah, how would you guys like it today?" he asked.

"Sure."

"Sounds good."

"HELL YEAH!"

"I'm sensing an overall enthusiasm within the group." Tobirama remarked.

They had made there way to the tower and were now in front of the Hokage himself.

"Hokage-sama I request you you give my team a C-rank mission. I believe my team is capable of handling it, as well as the fact that their teamwork a excellent for such a new team." Tobirama requested.

"Hmmm," the Hokage said as he took a puff of his pipe. "There is a mission to collect and escort a diplomat from Yugakure in **Yu no Kuni** (Land of Hot Water) to** Hi no Kuni's** (Land of Fire) capital. **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) was once a shinobi nation but gave up the ninja arts a few years ago in order to stay out of wars. Due to this they need to hire shinobi from other lands to protect their borders and smaller settlements from bandits and criminals. This diplomat is to negotiate terms with our Daimyo about sending our shinobi to** Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water). Seeing as they have little power there is very little chance of encountering hostile shinobi on this mission. The only problems would be bandits and possibly members of a small cult who were against the change from being a shinobi nation. According to our sources they have no shinobi in their ranks. The diplomat will be in the capital for 1 week, after which they will be escorted back to Yugakure regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. Is all of this understood?" the Hokage asked.

"Yes sir!" the team responded.

"Good luck Daisuke-kun, Momohime-chan," said a person to the right of the Hokage. Orion recognised him as the instructor who oversaw the graduation. He had light blonde hair and green eyes.

"and you too, Orion-kun." he added.

"Thank you, Tsuchi-sensei." Momohime and Daisuke said in unison while bowing.

"Thank you." Orion then said.

"Ahem," everybody looked at the Hokage. "You are all to leave at 08:00 sharp, understood?" he asked. They all nodded. "You are dismissed, team 2." he exclaimed. They then left the building.

"Alright no training for the rest of the day. Everybody go home and prepare for the mission. Be on time, or you know, bad things and all that." Tobirama ordered his pupils.

"Yes Sensei!" they said in unison, knowing full well he would see his threats through.

"Very good. Now of you go kiddies and say goodbye to anyone who cares, because you know, danger and whatnot." he said.

They then dispersed.

* * *

With Tobirama

_'My first true mission with gakis eh, that'll be eventful. Hopefully they'll know how to behave around diplomats. At least we're going to __**Yu no Kuni**__ (Land of Hot Water), their onsens are to die for. Better go see Yukino before I leave, if I don't I'll get an earful when I get back. Hell, it'll probably be a lot worse with Orion on the team, she adores that kid. I better not let him get killed, if I do I couldn't begin to imagine how sore my ass'll be._' Tobirama monologued internally_._

The man then began to make his way to the academy. When he did he asked the receptionist for his sisters classroom. He followed the directions to the classroom. When he reached the door instead of knocking he looked in the window. He saw his sister standing at the front, writing on the chalkboard while lecturing the class. He was about to enter when a little girl not put up her hand and pointed at the door.

The 6 foot tall Yukino then walked to the door and opened it quickly, towering over her 5 foot 8' little brother. Before he could greet her though she grabbed him by the ear and pulled him into the classroom, at which point he fell unceremoniously on his behind.

"What do you think your doing, peeping into my classroom and disrupting my class?" Yukino yelled.

"I-I-I was," he stuttered, suddenly forgetting how to form legible words when faced with an angry Yukino.

"Well?" she questioned with her hands on her hips.

"I was just coming to say goodbye to my Onee-chan before leaving on a mission with one of her former students." he said with a pout, crossing his arms and legs and turning his back to Yukino.

"Oh hello." he said to the students. "I'm Yukino-sensei's little brother Tobirama." he said, waving to the children. Some of then waved back but they were overall very quiet. "I'm also Orion-kun's sensei." He was again met with silence. "I'm a jonin." they still did not react. "I have a kekkei genkai." still no response from the children. "Ane, what have you done to your students to make them so lifeless?" he asked, turning his head to his sister.

In response she lifted him by the back of his collar, akin to what one would do with a puppy. "Ane," Tobirama whined, "I'm 29, stop treating me like a kid!" he said with a pout. "Stop acting like one." she rebutted. "Hm!" he childishly responded. "So what was this about a mission?" she asked. "Oh yeah, my genin team and I are going on a mission to Yugakure to escort a diplomat. It's a C-rank due to Yugakure's lack of power and the unlikely event of a serious threat." he answered dropping the pout. "Well make sure none of you die, what may be labelled as a C-rank could be more dangerous." she said solemnly. "Yeah, I know," he said seriously. She then put him down.

"but you know I won't let anyone on my team die, right?"

"Yeah, I know, I'm just concerned about the fact that my former student is in your questionable hands." Yukino said with a smirk.

"You wound me Nee-chan." Tobirama said with mock hurt. "Anyway I was just coming by to let you know. I'll see you around." he spoke as he left the classroom. "Goodbye Otouto." Yukino said as he left.

* * *

With Daisuke

"Oji-san, Haha, I'm back." he declared as he stepped through the threshold of his house.

"Hello Daisuke-kun, you're home early. Did something happen?" a slightly robust man with grey hair, a beard and a kindly smile asked Daisuke.

"No nothing happened, my sensei just cancelled training for today because we're going on a mission outside the village tomorrow and he gave us time to prepare." Daisuke said.

"A mission outside the village eh, where to?" the man enquired while stroking his beard. "And how long will you be gone?"

"To **Yu no Kuni** (Land of Hot Water), for 3 weeks at the minimum." Daisuke responded.

"3 weeks!?" the man exclaimed, "What's taking you 3 weeks to Yugakure and back? Are you crawling there?" he questioned.

"It'll take a day and a half to 2 days for us to get there and to get back, we might be staying in Yugakure for a day, traveling with non-shinobi from Yugakure to the capital of **Hi no Kuni** (Land of Fire) will take about 5 days both ways, not to mention the fact that we'll be staying in the capital for at least a week." Daisuke explained.

"So who are you escorting to our capital?" the bearded man asked.

"A diplomat to discuss sending shinobi to Yugakure for protection." Daisuke answered.

"Ah yes, they stopped training shinobi. I remember when-" he was suddenly cut off when a voice from the other room called;

"Daisuke, come here please." a weak feminine called, a call that Daisuke immediately responded to. When he entered the living room he immediately went over to his caller, a wheelchair bound woman with long black hair, green eyes, pale skin and pronounced cheek bones.

"Yes Haha, you called." Daisuke said gently.

"I heard you're going on a mission, to **Yu no Kuni** (Land of Hot Water), at least that's what my sources tell me, and they are always reliable." she said smiling. Daisuke chuckled and at looked at his mother.

"Yes Haha, I am, but there is no need to worry, it's only a C-rank escort mission. Let's not forget the fact that Tobirama-sensei will be there, and he's an elite jonin."

"The fact that Tobirama-san is there does make me feel better." she took her sons hand in hers she looked into his eyes. "Just promise me that you'll be careful out there. I don't know what I'll do if I lose you." she pleaded.

"I promise that I'll come back, no matter what Haha." he said smiling.

She smiled back before she suddenly started coughing violently.

"HAHA! Oji-san get in here." he yelled.

"No no, it's okay, I'm fine." she said with a raspy voice.

"What happened?" the man said from the doorway.

"I'm fine, Nato-kun." the woman responded.

"Sheria-chan." he said with concern.

"I'm fine," she repeated. "really I am."

"Haha, maybe I should tell my sensei that I can't do the mission, I could say-"

"NO!" she exclaimed. "You will _not _jeopardise your ninja career for my sake!" she said adamantly_._

"Okay Haha, I'll go." Daisuke said, not sounding too pleased about it.

"Good, now go get ready." she said gently.

* * *

With Momohime

HAHA, CHICHI, I'M HOOOOOME!" Momohime yelled as she entered her home and took off her sandals. "and I've got exciting news!" she said at a lower decibel.

"Oh really, what?" her mother asked as she entered the living room.

"I'm going on a C-rank mission to **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) to escort a diplomat to the capital of** Hi no Kuni** (Land of Fire) in order to discuss protection seeing as **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) no longer produce shinobi. We'll probably be gone from 3 weeks to a month depending on how annoying the diplomat is." she ranted

"Hehe, what makes you think the diplomat will be annoying?" Momohime's mother chuckled.

"It's gonna be a non-shinobi diplomat who will probably know nothing of hard work and will want to be carried the whole way there and back." the girl explained.

"If you say so. Oh, and don't forget that we have Shikamaru-kun's birthday next month, and that we'll have to get your measurements taken for a kimono for you to wear to the autumn festival."

"Yeah I remember, anyway I leave early tomorrow so I'm gonna go get ready." Momohime said as she went up the stairs.

* * *

With Orion

"Sigh, I guess I'll train for a bit and then get ready." he said to himself.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

The following morning team 2 met at the main gate and were prepared to leave for their mission.

"Alright team time to go, but before we do, does anyone need to go to the bathroom? We are after all, only as fast as our smallest bladder." Tobirama announced. He was met with three of unimpressed glares.

"Okay here's how we'll be getting there: we'll briefly follow the road west towards **Kawa no Kuni** (Land of Rivers) before taking the main road northeast to a small village. That'll take us until night time so we'll rest there for the night. We will then resume our journey northeast to Yugakure which will take us late into the evening. That day we'll meet with our clients and the following morning we'll start making our way to the capital. We'll spend a week there at the minimum, and then be retracing our steps back here." Tobirama explained.

"Everyone got that?" he was treated to a round of 'yes sensei's'.

"Let's go!" they all then began to run.

They had been running for a couple of hours when Tobirama announced;

"Turn here." with that they were heading northeast. After another hour Tobirama had stopped to take a break, noticing his student's laboured breathing.

"Rest for 15 minutes then we'll get going again." Tobirama said.

"Have either of you ever been out of the village before?" Momohime asked her teammates.

"I haven't, this is my first time." Orion responded.

"I was born in** Tetsu no Kuni** (Land of Iron) but my family moved to Konoha when I was little, partly due to the fact that my mother was born there. But other than that no, I have never been outside of the village." Daisuke said.

"Do you remember anything about your homeland?" Orion asked.

"Other than the fact that it was cold I don't remember anything."

"Are you ever going to go there again?" Momohime asked.

"Maybe one day."

"Alright everybody time's up. Move it." Tobirama declared.

After another few hours and another 2 breaks they eventually made it to the village.

"Alright I'll get us rooms in that inn over there, you can go kill time for a couple hours but be back by 10:00, we need to be up early tomorrow." Tobirama said.

He found a quaint in and rented 2 rooms, 1 for Momohime and 1 for the three males.

"This place is fairly active at night don't ya think." Momohime commented.

"Yeah." Daisuke responded. "So what should we do 'till 10:00?" Daisuke asked.

"Let's look at a few stalls." Orion said. "That one looks fun." he said pointing to a stall that had a game in which you had to catch a fish with a paper net. He ran up to the vendor and said; "I'd like to try please." The boy took out his wallet and paid the man. "Wish me luck." he said to his teammates. He carefully dipped the net into the water and got it under a fish. Though when he tried to catch the fish the paper broke and the fish fell back into the water, wetting Orion's face in the process. He then shot Momohime a look when he heard her giggle. "Again!" he said to the vendor, taking out more money to pay him with. After 6 more tries, with Momohime's laughter getting louder each time, Orion finally managed to capture a fish.

"Victory is mine!" he declared proudly, holding the fish bag above his head.

"Congratulations Orion-kun, now what are you going to do with the fish?" Momohime asked. Orion looked like he was about to say something but no words came out.

"I have no idea." he finally said. He then heard someone at the stall behind him, it was a young girl with blonde hair who was about Orion's age.

"Aww darn that was the last of my money. Mister couldn't you let me have 1 more turn please?" she pleaded.

"No can do little missy, one turn per payment." he said sternly.

"Awww." she said with a look of sadness on her face. Orion then walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Um, hello." he said nervously.

"Hi." she said cautiously.

"Would you like my fish?" he asked.

"Why, do you think you have to take pity on me because I'm a girl?" she asked angrily.

"No no that's not it." Orion said blushing. "It's just that I'm in the middle of a mission right now and I can't take care of him." Orion explained. "I don't even know why I tried to win him."

"Mission?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'm in the middle of a mission with my team." he said gesturing behind him.

"Do you mean the two who are grinning like madmen?" she asked. Orion looked behind him to see Momohime barely holding laughter and Daisuke with a hand over his mouth and his shoulders shaking.

"Yeah them." Orion deadpanned.

"Aren't you a little young to be a shinobi?"

"What can I say, I'm just that talented." he said smugly. She giggled.

"Well Shinobi, what's your name?" she asked.

"Orion, Uchiha Orion." he told her.

"I'm Hagane Kristi, and I think you Orion-kun, are cute." she said with a smirk. Orion blushed darker than before.

"Look at that Momo-chan, you've got competition." he heard Daisuke say from behind him.

"Oh woe is me," Momohime said dramatically. "Oh well how could I have expected to keep a stallion like him all to myself." Orion blushed even darker. She then walked up behind him and wrapped her hands around his shoulders. "But don't forget Orion-kun, you are still my super-duper-über kawaii little man." she spoke into his ear. He then fought out of her grasp, getting nearer to Kristi, his face as red as his sharingan.

"Thank you for the fish Orion-kun." Kristi said as she took the fish out of Orion's hands and then kissed him on the cheek.

"I have to get back to my parents now and again thank you." she said as she left.

"My my aren't you a player." Daisuke said as he walked up to Orion and Momohime.

"Shut up." was the boys response.

"Anyway let's keep looking around." Momohime said.

They walked around for another half hour playing more games and buying food. As they walked by a street performer Orion froze.

"Ori-kun what is it?" Momohime asked. She didn't get a response. She followed Orion's gaze to the performer. It was a man in black robes and an orange mask with wavy black lines on it. "It's a street performer, what's the big deal." Daisuke said. Without warning Orion went through a round of hand signs. When he finishes a blade of lightning appeared on his hand and he quickly leapt for the performer.

"ORION!" Momohime yelled. Daisuke quickly intervened, summoning his sword and quickly ran in front of the performer, just in time for his flame covered sword to meet Orion's blade of lightning.

"Orion what's gotten into you?" Daisuke asked as he parried Orion's blade, forcing him back.

"Get out of my way Daisuke, he needs to die!" he said while activating his sharingan. Before he could attack again he felt his body become stiff and he was unable to move. With effort he managed to turn his head to see Momohime crouched with her shadow extending to his.

"Why does he need to die Orion? What did he do?" Daisuke asked, letting his blade fall to his side.

"He killed them that's why, he killed them and all the others too!" was his answer. Orion then looked at the man, now without the mask, with a frightened look on his face. Orion's eyes widened at the realization that the man was not the Masked-Man. He felt Momohime's jutsu release him and he fell to his knees. "That's not him." Orion whispered.

Momohime and Daisuke exchanged a concerned look. Suddenly Tobirama appeared next to Daisuke.

"I felt your chakras spike. What happened?" he asked, noting Orion on the ground, the frightened street performer, Daisuke's sword, the wide berth the crowd of onlookers were giving them and the discarded mask. He managed to put the pieces together, based on what the Hokage told him at least.

"Orion-kun," he said. This snapped the boy out of his daze. He then looked around him and leapt onto the roof of an nearby building and then farther away. Tobirama sighed. "Momohime-chan, you go after him. Daisuke and I will look after things here." She nodded to this and went after him. When she caught up with him they had left the walls of the village and were in the forest.

"Orion!" she shouted. He heard her and stopped on the forest floor. "Orion what happened back there?" she asked gently. Suddenly and without warning Orion threw himself onto Momohime, clinging to her midsection and sobbing into her chest. "I thought it was him, I thought it was him." he repeated that a few times before Momohime asked;

"Who did you think it was?" she asked.

"The man who killed my family." he said. At this Momohime's eyes widened. From what she heard the one that killed the Uchiha clan was Uchiha Itachi. She didn't ask anymore questions and let Orion cry until he was satisfied. After a few minutes he pulled away and said;

"I'm sorry Momo-chan."

"There's no need to apologise, it's better to let these things out rather than keeping them bottled up. I can't begin to imagine how this must feel to you."

"Thank you." With that they walked back to the inn.

When they got there they met Daisuke and Tobirama, with the latter pacing around the room. He sighed on relief when the two walked in the room.

"Would you two give us a minute." Tobirama asked Momohime and Daisuke. They obliged and left to Momohime's room.

"Orion, please explain to me what happened today."

Orion sighed. "When I saw that man, it was like I back to that night, looking at the man that just killed my family. I wasn't thinking clearly. All I thought was: 'I must kill him! He must die!', and before I knew it I was caught in Momohime's jutsu. After that I had to get out there, so I went to the forest." Orion explained.

"Orion, you're a shinobi, you need to have better control over your emotions. Your still young, and your wound is still fresh so this is understandable. However we cannot let this happen again, don't forget the fact that you attacked a civilian, the very people you swore to protect. If something like this happens again I will have to take action and physically punish you. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sensei." Orion responded.

"Alright, it's time for us to get to bed. I'll go get Daisuke. Why don't you take a shower."

"Yes Sensei, and thank you." Orion said.

"Your welcome Orion."

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

The team was again on the move in the morning. It was an uneventful journey and they made it to Yugakure without any trouble. When they made it through the gates of the village they were quickly greeted by a welcoming committee.

"Greetings Shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, and thank you for accepting the mission." a middle-aged man in a regal robe said. "Let us guide you to the house of our Daimyo." he continued.

"They you sir." Tobirama said with a bow.

The team were escorted to a large estate that belonged to the Daimyo of **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water). They were guided to the central household, which was very luxurious.

"It is very good to have you here, Kurawara Tobirama, is it." the Daimyo asked. He was an older man in his early fifties with a black moustache.

"Yes sir, it is." Tobirama responded.

"And who are those young ones behind you?" the Daimyo asked.

"These are my students: Muramasa Daisuke, Nara Momohime, and Uchiha Orion." Tobirama answered, gesturing to each of his students in turn, and each of then bowing in turn.

"Uchiha eh, it was my understanding that there was an incident concerning them a few months ago." a man standing adjacent to the Daimyo said. At this Orion visibly shook.

"Raijiro, you shall not bring up such a sensitive subject in the presence of our guests." the Daimyo said angrily to the man.

"Yes my lord, I apologise for my words." he said while bowing to the Daimyo.

"Yes anyway, bring in Yachimaru-san." at these words the doors on the left side of the room opened. A young man in his early twenties with light brown hair, black eyes and a tan complexion entered the room.

"This is the man you'll be escorting to your capital. His name is Kenta Yachimaru." the man bowed to Tobirama as he was introduced. "He is my heir, and is to be protected. As well as you he will have a personal guard consisting of handpicked guards from my estate. They are a precaution which I doubt will be needed with you and your team present, Tobirama-san." the Daimyo explained. "You shall leave for the capital at 11:00 in the morning. Until then please enjoy the accommodation we have reserved for you. It is a hotel built on top of a hot spring. The men who brought you here will show you the way. I thank you again for this."

"There is no need for thanks, we are merely doing our duty as shinobi." Tobirama replied. Team 2 were then brought to their hotel.

* * *

**I don't have much to say here except for you to tell me what you think.**

**I bid you adieu.**


	7. The Journey

**I was very uninspired for this chapter. Sorry for the wait and the length.**

**Something I never got when reading the databooks is why do the shinobi have such a low mission count. Example: Hinata has only completed 33 missions throughout the series. When I read that I'm thinking: WHY? WHAT WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF A SOCIAL LIFE DOES THIS GUY HAVE?**

**Enough of my needless ranting. On with the story.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Journey**

* * *

Morning came and team 2 were at the main gate of Yugakure waiting for Yachimaru and his guard. As they came into view Tobirama said;

"Right on time. Now kiddies be on your best behaviour, be polite, be respectful, and try not to kill the client. Trust me, I've dealt with nobles and diplomats before, the urge will consume you."

As they got closer the team saw that Yachimaru was being carried in a norimono by two large and muscular men.

_'Oh fantastic.' _Tobirama thought sarcastically._ 'It'll take at least 10 days to get there at the pace this thing'll go at.'_

Surrounding the norimono was 6 armoured warriors.

"Their armour looks similar to that worn in **Tetsu no Kuni **(Land of Iron)." Daisuke remarked.

"It may very well be." Tobirama said to Daisuke. "**Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) also has a treaty with **Tetsu no Kuni **(Land of Iron). However the amount of samurai they can send is limited due to the great distance."

"But sensei, I thought that **Tetsu no Kuni** stay out of shinobi affairs and visa versa." Daisuke said. "Why would they now?" he asked.

"You're forgetting that **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) abandoned the shinobi arts, so when they asked for assistance **Tetsu no Kuni **(Land of Iron) immediately complied. Their leader Mifune is a very reasonable and noble man. In fact when previous Gokage summits were held **Tetsu no Kuni **(Land of Iron) hosted and was used as a neutral party to mediate." Tobirama explained.

As he finished explaining the norimono had reached them. The purple silk curtain on the norimono was pulled back to reveal Yachimaru and a young woman with flowing black hair, blue eyes and a sapphire diadem on her head.

It's nice to see you again Tobirama-san." Yachimaru said. "I apologise for the need of the norimono but I have developed a severe case of arthritis in my right knee and left ankle. I cannot walk too far without being in pain." he explained.

Tobirama, after a lengthy career as a shinobi, lengthy by a shinobi's standard at least, had developed the ability to tell whether or not someone was lying. He was displeased to see that Yachimaru was lying.

"Of course. And who is this fine young woman?" Tobirama said with a fake smile.

"This is my beloved, Madarane Suichi. She wished to accompany me on my journey." Yachimaru said.

"That's fine. Anyway let's not waste time talking, we should get moving Yachimaru-sama."

"Of course." he then let the curtain fall to hide him and Suichi from sight.

"Okay Momohime-chan, give us a formation plan." Tobirama ordered. Momohime gripped her chin between her thumb and index finger. She then looked up and said;

"This will be the formation: Orion-kun you will take the helm, 20 metres in front of the norimono. Keep your sharingan active in order to see any and all incoming threats. If you do see a potential threat throw a kunai 15 meters behind you. If the threat is confirmed throw a second kunai. Daisuke-kun you'll be directly in front of the norimono, acting as a second wave of defence. You should have your katana on your person at all times for this. I'll be directly behind the norimono. This will give me a good vantage point for **Kagemane** (Shadow Possession) and genjutsu. Sensei, you'll be 10 metres behind the norimono, prepared to help anyone if necessary." Momohime said. Tobirama looked at her proudly.

"Excellent formation Momohime-chan, couldn't have done it better myself." Tobirama praised. Daisuke unsealed his katana along with a sheath and fastened it to his right hip. After taking formation the party of 14 then started their journey, going at a snails pace. After a couple of hours of nothing Orion noticed rustling in nearby bushes ahead of him. Focusing on that with his eyes he noticed 3 chakra signatures. He took out a kunai and threw it behind him. He then noticed more chakra signatures further ahead of him on the other side of the road. He took out a second kunai, ready to throw it at any time.

"ATTACK!" a disembodied voice yelled. With that Orion threw the second kunai. As he did that many men jumped out from behind the bushes. 5 groups of 3, going in a zigzag along the path, and then 1 hanging at the back.

Orion leapt for the group closest to him, delivering a kick to one in the temple that knocked him unconscious. The other two came at him with swords. Orion quickly crouched and pounced at the one coming from his right, sticking his elbow out. He hit the man in the gut and he went flying backwards. The other came at him with his sword. In order to defend himself Orion used the **Raiton: Yaiba **(Lightning Release: Blade). When the bandit swung at Orion his sword got sliced like butter when it hit Orion's blade, with his free hand Orion then delivered an uppercut to the bandits jaw, knocking him out.

During his exchange with the three men 9 more made it past him. He wasn't worried though, his team was more than capable of taking them out. There were 4 more for Orion to deal with, one of them having not moved from their position at the back.

Orion went through the hands signs and yelled; "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu **(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)." this went straight towards the group of three and got two of them. He then charged towards the third, who was masked, with another **Raiton: Yaiba **(Lightning Release: Blade). The bandit brought up his metallic bo-staff to block, which it did successfully. They exchanged blows for a couple of seconds before the bandit smashed Orion's blade. Orion then jumped back and began concentrating chakra into the palm of his left hand. He aimed his hand at the bandit and released his chakra in a burst, yelling;

"**Raiton: Raikou Hitofuki no Jutsu **(Lightning Release: Lightning Blast Technique)."

The blast of lightning hit the bandit in the chest and going right through him. Orion froze, his eyes wide with shock.

_'I just killed someone.' _He thought.

He couldn't move, all he could think about was the fact that he just ended another human beings life, and said beings blood pooling at his feet. He only snapped out of his daze when he sensed the final bandit come at him. Before Orion could properly register what was happening Tobirama was in front of him and had the bandits throat in his grip. After a couple of seconds steam began coming out of the bandits eyes and mouth. Soon after that his head began to dry up and shrivel. Tobirama dropped the dried up corpse and turned to his student.

"Are you okay Orion-kun? I know it must be difficult. Comprehending your first kill never is." Tobirama said to his student. "Just think about what you want, what your goal is, because if you want to achieve that goal, killing will be a necessity." he put his hand on Orion's shoulder. "If you need to talk, I'm here for you." With that Tobirama went to check on Yachimaru.

_'Tobirama sensei is right, I can't let this get the better of me. This is the life of a shinobi, a life I must endure.' _Orion thought.

Before they could resume their journey Tobirama said that they had to restrain the living and burn the corpses. It smelt horrible to Orion, like some sort if hellish barbecue. For the next few hours they travelled with little trouble, only a few bandits decided to test their luck. They either ended up dead or tied to a tree.

They were halfway to the shared border of **Hi no Kuni **(Land of Fire)and **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) and it was getting dark so it was decided that they would stay overnight in a small town before resuming their journey in the morning. An inn had been procured to accommodate the whole party. The funding came out of the Daimyo's account. 2 samurai guards were stationed at the entrance of the inn, and 2 more at the door to Yachimaru and Suichi's room. The remaining 2 patrolled around the perimeter of the inn. The norimono was kept hidden behind the inn guarded by its 2 carriers. The shinobi took the time to visit an onsen.

"Kiddies the onsens in **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) are the best in the world. Way better than anything we have in Konoha." Tobirama said as he paid the desk clerk.

"Women to the left, men to the right." the clerk said smiling.

* * *

With the Guys

The males of Team 2 were in the bathing room, sitting on stools and scrubbing themselves, getting ready for the hot spring.

"Have you ever used a **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) onsen before Sensei?" Daisuke asked. "With all your bragging of them it better live up to your standard."

"Don't worry Daisuke-kun, it will. And I have used these before so I know what I'm talking about. You should learn to not question your ever-wise sensei." Tobirama said.

"Yes, ever-wise is the right term for you Sensei." Daisuke said while rolling his eyes.

"Shaddup gaki!" Tobirama snapped. Daisuke sighed.

"My point exactly." he muttered.

Tobirama smirked as he started lathering soap into his hair. He got a bucket of water and dumped it on his head.

"Let's get to the onsen." Tobirama said standing up.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

The next morning the team was waiting outside the inn for Yachimaru and Suichi to come out. When they did come out they had a guard in front and behind them.

"We should leave now Yachimaru-sama, if we want to make good time." Tobirama said respectfully.

"Yes of course Tobirama-san," Yachimaru said. "punctuality is very important." they then left the town in formation, heading towards the border.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

5 uneventful days passed, the party having no obstacles but bandits. Unskilled bandits at that. The capital was southeast of Konoha so the party was going south for the journey.

When Orion saw 3 chakra signatures ahead of him with his sharingan he threw the first kunai behind him. After getting closer he saw that the three of them, 2 men 1 woman, were facing the party with bloodthirsty grins on their faces. They all had silver hair, purple eyes, hitai-ates showing they were once Yugakure shinobi, and all were wearing amulets with an inverted triangle in a circle. They each had scythe like weapons. The one in the centre had a long handled black scythe taller than his body with a blade curving downward on one side and upward on the other side **(A/N: similar to Shuhei Hisagi's shikai)**. The one to his left, the woman, had a scythe as long as the other but with one very long curved blade **(A/N: similar Soul Eater's weapon form)**. Her blade was crimson. The final obstruction had 2 one metre long weapons, both of which had a short slightly curved blade on either end. The three of them charged, the leader yelling;

"DIE IN THE NAME OF JASHIN-SAMA!"

Orion rushed through hand-signs for the **Raiton: Yaiba **(Lightning Release: Blade) and blocked the the attack from the one who was standing in the middle. The other 2 managed to get past him, he was confidant the others could take them though.

"You pacifistic heathens will die a bloody death for the pleasure of Jashin-sama!" he yelled. He then swung the blade at Orion again, with the boy once again blocking with the lightning sword, however the blade grazed Orion's cheek but it was only a light cut, nothing Orion couldn't handle. With a grin the madman leapt back.

"Is that all you've got?" Orion asked rhetorically. All he got was a psychotic grin.

"Let us share the ultimate pain!" the madman said while cutting his hand and dripping blood on the ground, sounding like the thought of pain was pure bliss. He then started to make a circle around him with the blood. Before he could finish though Orion charged at him with the **Raiton: Yaiba **(Lightning Release: Blade). He swung his scythe horizontally in an attempt to bisect the boy but he ducked and got close to the madman. Orion slashed upwards at the madman, cutting him deep from the right hip to the left shoulder before using the blade to impale the man in the heart.

"He was one crazy son of a bitch." Orion said as he turned to help his teammates.

"OH FUCK THAT FELT GOOD!" Orion turned with wide eyes to look at the man get up from the ground with an orgasmic grin on his face.

"How the hell are you alive!?"

"This is the graceful gift of Jashin-sama, the ability to experience the ultimate bliss without consequences. Only his most loyal most dedicated servants are rewarded with this. You can't kill me MOTHERFUCKER!" He yelled."

'Damn it!' Orion though, preparing to continue this fight.

* * *

**So tell me what y'all think. If any of you are concerned I'm going to go into more detail about this whole Jashin thing. I'll explain my version of things and Hidan will be referenced.**

**P.S: if anyone can get the reference in the note at the top you will get 5 points.**

**I bid you all adieu.**


	8. The Immortals

**Sorry for the wait. I won't lie I was just plain lazy when it came to this, mainly because I'm just making this particular stuff up as I go along. When I get into the meat of the story it'll come to me faster and I'll update more frequently.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: The Immortals**

* * *

"Die heathen!" The madman yelled while swinging his long weapon at Orion. The boy leapt back, letting the blade on his arm fade, and then started making the hand-signs for the **Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu** (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique) and shot the balls of fire at the madman. He dodged with some effort but one grazed his arm. When that happened he let out a moan.

_'What a goddamn freak!' _Orion thought. The madman swung his large weapon at Orion, however mid-swing the double sided blade detached from the pole but was connected to it by a thin chain. The blade charged at Orion, who quickly took out 2 kunai and blocked the blade but the force of the attack sent the boy backwards and onto his back. He rolled out of the way as the blade came down again. Had he not moved said blade would have been embedded in his abdomen.

From where he was he was the man had completed the circle on the ground he couldn't complete before. It looked the same as the pendant the man was wearing around his neck. From the bottom of the pole he was holding the man pulled out a black spear roughly one metre in length.

"Let us share the pain!" The man said as he dragged the tip of the spike from the back of his hand up to his elbow, drawing blood the whole way up. Orion looked at the man with a questioning glare before he felt pain shoot up his own arm, in the same place the madman had cut his own arm.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Orion yelled in agony, falling to his knees and clutching his left arm. He couldn't see anything wrong but he could feel it.

"Do you like the methanoic acid I added? It's a primary ingredient in the venom bees have in their stingers. It's an extremely concentrated version that stings like nothing you've felt before." He said with sadistic smile. Orion on the other hand was on the verge of blacking out due to the intensity of the pain. His arm felt as if was burning from the inside out.

The sadist brought the tip of the spear to his chest and was about to drag down before he felt himself seize up.

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!?" He yelled. He looked to his right and saw a young girl in a crouched position and a shadow going from her to the madman's feet. He then involuntarily stepped out of his circle at which point Orion stopped feeling pain. He stood up and focused himself.

"Orion kill him now!" Momohime said urgently.

_'Nothing can survive without a brain.' _Orion thought rationally. He channelled and condensed chakra into the palm of his hand and aimed it at the madman's head. He released the chakra and a blast of lightning obliterated the man's head. The body fell to the ground with a thump.

"Thanks." He said to Momohime.

"No problem."

"How are the others doing?"

"Daisuke's fighting the duel wielder and Sensei's going up against the woman, and she's holding her own." She said.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" they heard 2 people scream and ran towards it.

* * *

Earlier With Daisuke

Daisuke saw Orion's second kunai and drew his sword, readying himself for battle. Out of the three he saw one stayed behind to fight Orion. Out of the remaining 2 the woman leapt over him, the norimono and Momohime to get directly to Tobirama.

"ALL OF YOU INTO THE FOREST NOW!" Momohime yelled. Daisuke looked behind him and saw that the norimono and its guard was escaping into the forest. Momohime then came to his side.

The man looked at them with a bored stare. He had long silver hair that was tied in multiple places. Momohime started by attempting to catch the man in **Kagemane **(Shadow Possession) but failed because he leapt away. He ran towards the two, avoiding Momohime's shadow as he did. When he got too close Daisuke leapt at him with his flaming sword. It was blocked and Daisuke was forced back. The man started to spin the weapons in his hands at a high speed. Momohime attempted to put him under a genjutsu but it was dispelled nearly immediately. However the split second he lost focus was enough for Daisuke to knock the scythe out of his right hand. To compensate he twisted the at the centre of his remaining weapon and pulled it apart to make 2 smaller scythes. He held them backhanded and went to attack Daisuke again. Daisuke parried the onslaught of strikes and out of the corner of his eye he saw that Orion was in trouble.

"Momo go help Orion. I can handle this guy." Momohime looked behind her and saw the woman going toe to toe with her sensei. She looked apprehensive but ultimately complied and went to help her younger teammate.

"You don't talk much do you?" Daisuke asked rhetorically. He channelled more chakra into his blade, making the flames more intense. After exchange more blows Daisuke managed to cut off the man's left hand, something he didn't even flinch at, then he stabbed the man though his left eye. Daisuke withdrew his sword and was about to go after Yachimaru and Suichi before he heard;

"You really know how to wield a blade!" Daisuke looked behind him with a shocked expression.

"What the hell!?" Daisuke yelled with surprise. The man shoved the half scythe into his stump and then retrieved his other whole weapon. Daisuke set his sword ablaze once again.

"How the hell aren't you dead!?"

"It's the gift given to us most loyal to Jashin-sama. Immortality." He said with a monotone voice. "Of course, some of us have the gift better than others. For example the woman has the power in it's greatest form, she is able to take the form closest to Jashin-sama and mirror the wound on her opponent. She is rivaled by only one other follower of Jashin-sama."

"What is Jashin?" Daisuke asked, ready to attack at any time.

"I don't see why how it's any of your business, but seeing as you're going to die soon I don't see why I shouldn't tell you." He said, getting ready to attack also. "It's simple really, he's our God. He is a great powerful god that rewards his faithful followers with great power." He said, sounding as if he was preaching. "Enough talk, let's fight." They ran at each other, blade hitting blade, but neither getting a good blow on the other. Their attention was only on besting the other.

Daisuke only registered anything else when Momohime and Orion ran past them.

* * *

Earlier With Tobirama

_'This one is strong.' _He thought, leaning backwards in order to avoid being bisected by the scythe. _'She's very skilled with her weapon, being able to keep me on edge like this.'_

"**Shakuton: Nami **(Scorch Release: Wave)!" He said, directing the palm of his hand at her and releasing a wave of hot wind at the woman. When she recovered she had an eerie grin on her face. Then, without warning she swung the scythe in a wide arc, which was avoided by Tobirama, and quickly swung again, not giving her opponent a chance to counterattack. She swung down and Tobirama leapt back to dodge, the blade of the scythe embedding itself in the ground.

"You're good lady." Tobirama said with a grin.

"It is all thanks to Jashin-sama that I have these abilities. He is the one true god, and his might will smite all of you blasphemous heathens!" She proclaimed proudly, skilfully swinging her massive scythe at Tobirama, who barely managed to dodge. She swung downwards at Tobirama and he caught the blade of the scythe between his hands. Immediately steam started emitting from where his hands were. The woman pulled away her weapon and looked closely at it. She saw hand prints on either side of the blade. She used her sleeve to wipe the hand prints away and the scythe was as good as new.

"I intended for my hands to melt that thing the whole way through, but I didn't even put a dent in it. What's it made out of?" Tobirama asked.

"It is a rare metal given only to those who pledge their absolute loyalty to Jashin-sama. Jashinium. It makes a brilliant material for weapons. It is indestructible. You stand no chance against us so why don't you let us pass and kill those motherfuckers that ran with their tails between his legs? If that's not acceptable then we'll kill you and take those brats of yours and sacrifice them to Jashin-sama. After which we'll kill that pussy and his bitch." After she said that she burst out in a fit of macabre laughter. She charged at Tobirama in a wild but coordinated attack.

"**Shakuton: Doraiyashi **(Scorch Release: Dry Palm)." Tobirama yelled, ducking under the flurry of attacks and getting close to the woman. Before the woman could bring back her weapon to impale him he plunged his hand into her gut. Blood didn't leak, instead red steam came from the wound. Tobirama was about withdraw as the woman's hand grabbed his forearm. He looked up with a shocked expression and saw the woman smiling down at him. She pulled her scythe back and stabbed Tobirama in the back. Tobirama winced, noting that the wound was intentionally shallow. The woman withdrew her scythe and Tobirama leapt back, an action that brought pain due to his wound. The woman plunged her hand into her gut, into the hole Tobirama left. She moved her hand around, using her fingers to cause more damage. This caused blood to spill onto the ground around her.

"FUUUUUUUUUUCK!" She yelled with pleasure in her tone. "I thank you for impaling me. Maybe you can do it again sometime?" She said with seductive tone.

"Sorry, but I don't swing that way." He retorted.

"That's a shame. The women of Konoha must be disappointed." She said as she dragged her foot in a circle around her. "But I guess the men are happy, with you not being interested in the woman. Gets rid of the competition." She drew a triangle of blood in the circle. She licked the blood from the blade of her scythe.

_'The hell is she doing?' _Tobirama thought.

"In the name of Jashin-sama," She whispered as her skin turned black and white, giving a skeleton like appearance. "we will experience the ultimate pain together!" She swung her scythe into her left shin, the blade going the through, forming a vertical hole in her leg. A wound that was mirrored on Tobirama's. They both screamed out;

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" One of the screams was in ecstasy, the other in pain.

"OH YEAH! OH FUCK!" The woman cried in pleasure. "Just so you know my blade is covered in a deadly poison that makes your whole body feel like its being set in fire. And you'll feel every single cell of your body in pain. You've got that in your back and feel like its in your your leg."

_'Sorry kiddies, I'll come back for you soon.' _Tobirama made a series of hand signs and slammed the palm of his hand into the ground. Tobirama disappeared in a puff of smoke and in his place was a statue of a chameleon with its tongue stuck out.

"Hm that was interesting." The woman said. "Oh well, at least we still have the children." She turned and saw Orion and Momohime looking ready to strike. She ran at them and swung her scythe. Both avoided easily but she leapt at Momohime, who saw the attack coming didn't have the reflexes to avoid and was knocked out with a kick to the head. Orion was about to use a **Raiton: Yaiba **(Lightning Release: Blade) but was swiftly knocked out by strike to the neck. The man who was fighting Daisuke, the latter now slung over the former's shoulder, was the one who knocked him out.

"Where'd the sensei go?" He asked.

"He left in a puff of smoke. Anyway forget him, I'll go get those fuckers that escaped. You resurrect that asshole and tie up those kids."

"Right." She then ran into the forest. The man sighed as he walked over to the remains of his ally. "Damn bastard, getting yourself blown up by a brat." He started to draw a larger version of the circle that was drawn earlier, big enough to fit the entire body, with blood. He then dragged the body into the circle and kicked the biggest chunks of head that was lying around in as well. He then took his disembodied hand out of his pocket and put it in the circle also. He then yanked the half scythe out of his arm and placed his palm and stump face down on the circle. The circle started glowing and all the various pieces of head and blood began to congregate at the top of the body, eventually forming a the head with silver hair. As well as that the hand re-attached itself to the wrist.

The body opened it's eyes and sat up. "Fuck, having your head burst into pieces and still being alive to feel it hurts like a motherfucking bitch." He said with a smirk.

"I'd expect it would." Was the sarcastic response.

"I guess I owe you thanks brother." He said standing up and cracking his neck. "Where's sister?" He asked.

"She went after the pacifists."

"And why aren't the kids dead?"

"She asked me to restrain them. The day of our Lord is nearly upon us, maybe she wants to use them as sacrifice for that day." He explained.

"Judging from their ages they are more than likely virgins, the best sacrifices for our Lord. He gets too take the innocent and show them pain they never could have imagined." The newly revived man said with a sadistic grin.

"Don't say it like that you sicko! It's makes you sound like a paedophile."

"Shut the fuck up!" He said angrily. He then retrieved his weapon.

* * *

With The Woman

She ran through the forest with her scythe trailing behind her. When she saw the norimono and its guard she grinned a sadistic grin. She got close to the rear-most guard and completely cut him down the middle, as if the armour wasn't even there. She reveled in the feeling of warm blood splashing on her face. Before the others could react she decapitated the one closest to her left. One turned and slashed at her with his sword. In response she cut of his arms at the elbows and then swung up through his skull. She speedily turned and bisected a samurai horizontally. The next one was sliced from his left shoulder to right hip. She turned to the final guard and cut off his legs and arms. He fell to the ground screaming in agony.

"I wonder what we'll kill you first, blood loss or my poison?" With a psychotic look on her face she turned and left the samurai for dead, going after the norimono. She soon saw the muscle men running with the norimono on their shoulders. She pulled a spear from the bottom of her scythe and threw it right through the rear carrier's head. Screams came from the norimono as it collapsed to the ground. She jumped at the other man and sliced him right down the middle. She retrieved her spear from the man's skull, licking the blood off of it like a child would with a lollipop, and put it back where it belonged.

She walked over to the norimono, which was turned on its side, and ripped the door off. She grinned down at the man and woman, who were cowering in fear.

"Hello my darlings. How are we today?"

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

"Well I'd say this was a successful endeavour." The man said. "Wouldn't you?" He asked his two companions. The other man didn't respond and the woman said;

"I would say so." She responded. The quiet man had a girl and a man over his shoulders, the talkative man had the two boys over his shoulders and the woman had another woman over her shoulder.

"Here we are." The woman said. They arrived at what looked like an abandoned warehouse. "Take them to the basement, I'll contact Hidan." She ordered as she put the woman she was carrying over the man's shoulders, on top of her norimono buddy.

"Speaking of Hidan, what was that organisation he joined called?" The man carrying the boys asked.

"Akatsuki." The long haired man answered.

"Why did the fucker join in the first place?"

"He said they had a pioneer of immortality in their ranks. A nukenin from **Takigakure **(Village Hidden by a Waterfall)." The long haired man kicked open a trapdoor leading down a stairwell to room with 4 jail cells, two on each side.

"Don't forget to remove their necessary clothing."

"Yeah yeah I won't fucking forget." The man then stripped the boys down to their boxers, while the other did the same with the man and stripped the girl to sports bra and underwear. He placed his hand on the woman's stomach and closed his eyes.

"The woman is with child." He stated.

"Wooptie-fucking-doo. How the hell does that change anything?"

"We cannot sacrifice her to Jashin-sama."

"And why the hell not?"

"Jashin-sama asks us to take lives in his name, we cannot give him incomplete life, as well as the currently impure life of the woman."

"Whatever, as long as Jashin-sama gets his blood I'm satisfied." The captives were then chained to walls of their cells. Orion and Daisuke were in the far right cell, Momohime and Suichi across from then in the far left cell, and Yachimaru in the cell next to them. Suichi was left with her clothes. The men then returned upstairs.

"Hidan and his partner will be here the day after tomorrow, just in time for the day of Jashin-sama." The woman said when they approached her. Behind her was a Jashin circle and engraved into her arm were the words: _'Warehouse 8 how long?' _. Below that was the words: _'2 days'_.

"It was a very good idea to keep a supply of each members blood at each safe house brother. It's very convenient for communication." She said, addressing the long haired man. He simply nodded.

* * *

In The Basement

Orion shivered as he opened his eyes, noticing most of his clothes were gone and that his hands were bound behind his back, in cuffs attached to the wall. He looked around and saw his teammates and clients in cells around him.

"Daisuke? Daisuke wake up!" He said, nudging Daisuke with his foot. Daisuke woke with a confused look on his face. He got on his knees and looked around before giving a statement that summed up the situation perfectly;

"Well fuck."

* * *

Earlier With Tobirama

_'Sorry kiddies, I'll come back for you soon.' _Tobirama said as he went through a series of hand signs and slammed his palm into the felt himself go through a vacuum of sorts before landing in a pool of warm water.

"Tobirama-san, what are you doing here?" A 2 metre long bearded Dragon asked.

"My genin are in trouble. An enemy surprised me with her ability and now a poison in coursing itself through my body. I have a wound I won't be able to work with, and I need a patch job. Is that doable?" Tobirama asked the lizard.

"Yes! We'll start immediately!" With a couple of clicks 3 more lizards appeared. "Alright reptiles, we need to work fast! Tobirama's hatchings are in danger. Get to work!" With that the lizards went to work. They started by removing his clothes with their tongues. Then one wrapped her tongue around his leg wound to stop the bleeding and start healing it. A **Kaze **(Wind) beaded lizard flipped Tobirama onto his front, making sure to keep his head out of the water, and bit into his back, sending her venom into his body in order to neutralise the poison. When she injected enough the third lizard wrapped his tongue around Tobirama's midsection in order to heal the wound on his back.

"Your going to have to stay here for a day in order to completely heal your leg Tobirama-san."

"Yes I know Tokagewari-san. Just make sure it doesn't take too long."

"Of course."

* * *

**So yeah, what did you think of what I did with Jashin and his followers. And yes there's a reason none of their names were mentioned. It's nothing big but it'll be revealed next chapter. **

**I've also made Tobirama a lizard summoner. I thought it would go well with his scorch release. Also the Kaze beaded lizard is actually called the Mexican beaded lizard. I thought since both were hot countries I might as well make the geography accurate. Until next time.**

**I bid you adieu.**


	9. The Rescue

**Published: May 10th 2015**

**I had my sisters first communion on Saturday. I was in the church for over an hour. It wasn't long before I entertained myself in the form of writing more of this. To be honest I was surprised that I didn't burst into flames in while I was there. If you don't understand why then look at my profile.**

**From now on the Jashin worshipers will be known as thusly:**

**The woman = 'The woman'**

**The one that fought Orion = 'The man'**

**The one who fought Daisuke = 'The long haired man'**

**Here are some stories of different fandoms that I would recommend you read:**

**NARUTO:**

**Naruto: The Gamer Files by MaxFic, Naruto - Naruto has always had video games to fall back on growing up while the rest of the village pretty much treated him like garbage. What happens when Naruto wakes up to find his life has become one of the video games he loves so much. Naruto/The Gamer crossover. All Chapters Revised.**

**Lucidity by PuppetMaster55, Naruto - Challenge by TenchiSaWaDa. What if Naruto lost himself to the bloodlust of the Kyuubi at the Valley of the End? What if he was banished? What if he gathered the other Jinchuuriki? No harem, not yaoi.**

**New chance by Hektols, Naruto - A 10 years old Naruto meets a man who will change his life and the Ninja Nations, but will it be for good? The Yondaime has returned and he is not happy. NaruHina later.**

**Genius Sensei by AlexDnD, Naruto - What if Kakashi had recovered from his deep depression? What if he turned out to be a true genius as a sensei? Watch as team 7 develops into a truly capable shinobi team!**

**Changing What is to Come by juman1994, Naruto - Kakashi listens to Madara as he revels the truth behind the Massacre before finding himself back in time. Now he must come up with a plan to make a better future for everyone he cares about. By helping his team become stronger and bonding with his generation, will Kakashi succeed? Story of team-bonding, second chances and friendship. Team Minato Fic.**

**BLEACH:**

**Becoming Vasto Lorde(Remastered) by only4bass, Bleach - Remastered Version of Devastating Consequences:Becoming Vasto Lorde. Friendships lost, and new bonds formed as the Winter War ends and Ichigo rises among the Ranks of the Espada. (Powerful, but not God-like, Ichigo) Ichigo/Harribel(Orihime thrown in to add some drama) Please enjoy!**

**A Protector's Pride by NeoRyu777, Bleach - What if Ichigo had handled his Inner Hollow problem like he had everything else thrown his way? Instead of running from it, he faced it head-on? Rated M for future graphic scenes.**

**A Grim Tale of Reapers by CalamitasWrath, Bleach - Isshin Kurosaki died years ago, and Ichigo has been living with his mother ever since. Life seems normal for him, until one day, he meets Rukia and is thrown into the spiritual world. Under the tutelage of a very shady shopkeeper, Ichigo becomes a shinigami. But things are not as simple as they initially seem… AU retelling of Bleach, major changes to canon plotline. IchiRuki.**

**BIG HERO 6:**

**Brothers 101 by the girl you wouldn't expect, Big Hero 6 - A bunch of short stories of Hiro's and Tadashi's life that take place before the movie. mostly fluff and sibling love. Also, I'll explain how they get along and that they weren't always so close with each other, especially right after their parents death. Crappy summary, but I for one love sibling love so that's why I enjoy writing these. maybe I'll make a story with a plot later. **

**Crescendo by tiramichoux, Big Hero 6 - Ever since he was young, Tadashi Hamada had blamed himself for the death of his parents and later his little brother. When he meets a young mute who resembles Hiro, he finds a glimmer of hope for a happy ending. As the two bond through gummy bears and Baymax, disturbing secrets are unearthed and words that were once unsaid are spoken.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Rescue**

* * *

It had been one day since they were captured. Orion was pushing against the wall with his feet in the hopes of ripping the chain that was connected to his cuffs out of the wall. So far he had no success.

"There's no point in wasting your energy Orion-kun." Daisuke said after half an hour of Orion's futile effort. Orion shot him a glare then sighed and took his advice, retaking his seat on the cold stone floor.

The trapdoor to the jail opened and the long haired man came in. He was carrying a bowl of food and a glass of water. He opened the door to Suichi and Momohime's cell and walked over to the woman. He placed the food and water on the ground and undid Suichi's cuffs.

"Eat." He said with a monotone voice.

"Thank you." She said with genuine gratitude. He simply nodded.

"Thank you." Yachimaru said as the long haired man walked out. His thanks went unacknowledged.

"So why did he give you food? Not that I'm against it. It's just a little strange seeing as we're their prisoners." Daisuke asked. Suichi looked down, seemingly in shame, before gazing at Yachimaru. He nodded and she sighed.

"I'm pregnant. I don't know how he knows, we only found out right before you people arrived in Yugakure. That's why Yachimaru-kun insisted we take the norimono, despite how slow it is." She explained.

"Then why the secrecy?" Momohime asked.

"We are only engaged, not yet married. My parents are very traditional people. If they knew we had physical relations before we are wed they'd be furious. If the child was born out of wedlock it would be forbidden to succeed me. We planned to elope while in the capital of your country and tell my parents that we didn't want to wait another year before being married." He explained.

"But why go to our capital to do so? Why not elope in your own country so Suichi-sama didn't have to come at all?" Momohime asked.

"In **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) if any marriage involving a member of the royal family is to be true then it must be given its blessing by the Daimyo. If we did it in secret then it would not have been true and the child would have still be born out of wedlock, in my parents' eyes least. This only applies to marriages in **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water). We are exploiting a loophole by marrying in **Hi no Kuni **(Land of Fire). As long as we adhere to the traditions of your country then it will be a true marriage and our child will succeed me. The ones who started these traditions were very lazy when trying to rid it of exploitable loopholes." Yachimaru explained.

"We were very careful when reading the regulations. Everything we're doing is completely legal." Suichi added.

"I volunteered to go come to your country for this very opportunity." Yachimaru said. "It was a mistake! Thanks to my carelessness we're all going to be killed!"

"No." Momohime said. "Tobirama-sensei is going to come for us. He wouldn't leave us behind like that. If he left it was because he had a plan to save us!"

"You think do?" Yachimaru asked.

"I know so." She said with a smile. _'I don't know so. How would Tobirama-sensei even find us? I can think of no way out. They're too strong for genin like us. With our hands bound we can't even perform jutsu. It's a hopeless situation.' _She thought darkly.

After a few minutes the long haired man came back. Though it was only to bind Suichi again, and to take the bowl and glass away. He left again without a word.

* * *

With Tobirama

After 2 daysTobirama was still in the water, healing his injuries from the battle. The lizards were working fast, patching up his wounds. The poison had been neutralized easily since it hadn't spread through his body enough. If it was left longer though, he might have not been so lucky.

"And we're done." The lizard that had its tongue wrapped around his leg said. She unrolled her tongue from Tobirama's leg and scampered away.

"You really should be more sensible when on the battlefield boy. You might end up dead one of these days." Tokagewari said.

"I wasn't expecting an immortal religious zealot." He said standing up. "While on the topic of my death, if I do happen to die out there before having someone else sign the contract, I have chosen one of my students for it to be taken to. His name is Muramasa Daisuke. You got that?"

"I do. But why not have him sign it now and save us the trouble of locating him?" The lizard asked.

"Because he's not ready for the summoning jutsu, his chakra reserves aren't large enough to use it and battle efficiently, nor are they large enough to use it as a last ditch effort." He explained. He then used his **Shakuton **to dry his body and then reclothed his lithe body.

"Anyway onto more impotent matters, did you send someone to where I was?" He asked.

"We did. He will reverse summon you at eleven, which is half an hour from now."

"Good, I'll have to locate my students as quickly as possible. Who knows what those religious bastards will have done to them!" He said with an edge in his voice.

"How do you know they're not dead yet? What if they already sacrificed them?" Tokagewari asked.

"I don't know for certain, but my intuition tells me that they're alive, and it hasn't led me wrong before. And if it turns out that they are dead, I'll have a way to vent my anger the form of 3 psychotic zealots." He started stretching his muscles, being relatively motionless for 2 days tends to stiffen you a little bit. Tobirama looked down at his leg and saw a large scar go from below his knee to just above his ankle.

"That's the second biggest scar on my body." He mumbled to himself.

After half an hour if waiting Tobirama said;

"It's eleven, shouldn't I be getting summ-" Tobirama was cut off when he felt himself go through a vacuum and appeared in a puff of smoke in front of 2 foot long chameleon. "-oned right now. Oh, hi Toka." The chameleon nodded before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

_'I should start looking for something to use as a scent to track them.' _He thought. He looked around for awhile before noticing something sticking out of the ground. He grabbed it by the hilt and pulled it out of the ground. _'Daisuke's katana. This'll work.' _He went through a sequence of hand signs and slammed his hand into the ground. "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu** (Summoning Technique)." A 4 metre long Mangrove Monitor was summoned in a puff of smoke.

"I was expecting your sssummons, Tobirama-sssama." The reptile hissed.

"You're the best tracker know Tokagehiro-san. Anyway here, smell this. It belongs to one of my students." The lizard stuck his tongue out and touched the blade with it.

"I got a good big wiff of two ssscents, one on the hilt and another on the blade. Both are heading in the same direction."

"That would be Daisuke and the man he was fighting." Tobirama said as he got on Tokagehiro's back. "Let's make good time Tokagehiro-san."

"Riiight." He hissed. He then began running at a high speed towards the source of the scent.

* * *

With The Jashinists

The three were in their warehouse making preparations for the ritual. 3 bloody Jashin symbols were on the ground, all in neat row. There was a knock at the door of the warehouse and 2 people made their way in. Both were wearing black cloaks with red clouds. One had, like the other Jashin worshipers, silver hair and purple eyes. He also had a crimson tri-bladed scythe on his back. The other man had a mask covering half of his face and a hitai-ate showing that he was from **Takigakure **(Village Hidden by a Waterfall). He had a briefcase in one of his hands but the strangest thing about him were his eyes. He had green irides, no pupils and red sclerae.

"Finally we're fucking here!" Hidan said. "We would have been here quicker sister but this fucking heathen had to take a detour in order to quench his greed for money."

"It is quite fine brother Hidan. The heathen will get what's coming to him." The woman said.

"In case you have forgotten I am Akatsuki's treasurer. It is my job to make sure that we are well funded. Question me again and I will find a way to kill you. You are already trying my patience by dragging me to this voodoo ceremony of yours." Kakuzu said, earning glares from everyone else in room.

"Ignore the bastard." Hidan said. "Where are the sacrifices? I want to get a good look at them before we hand them over to Jashin-sama."

The long haired man took them to the trapdoor and went down the stairs to the cells. Hidan looked at each of them with a smirk and a hungry look in his eyes.

"It smells putrid down here." Kakuzu commented, noting the pile of vomit near the woman and other things around everyone else that was better left unmentioned.

"Who are you?" Yachimaru asked.

"I, like my brothers and sister, have forfeit my name for Jashin-sama. For convenience I go by a Jashinist name, Hidan. What's it to ya fucker!" Hidan explained. Yachimaru frowned. "So who's getting who?"

"Brother is getting young brown haired boy, I the black haired boy, sister the girl, and you the man."

"What about the woman? Why's she not getting sacrificed?"

"She is with child. I wouldn't allow an incomplete life to be given to Jashin-sama."

"I guess so. Where'd you find them?" Hidan asked.

"The two adults are diplomats from Yugakure that were going to **Hi no Kuni **(Land of Fire). The children were the shinobi that that were guarding them." The long haired man stated.

"What are their names?" Kakuzu's gruff voice asked.

"Excuse me?" The long haired man said in confusion. "Why would you want to know their names?"

"They may have bounties on their heads. After you kill them I'd take them to a collectors office." Kakuzu responded, sounding inpatient.

"We didn't ask." Kakuzu turned to Orion and Daisuke.

"What are your names, and be quick about it?" Both boys glared at him and he glared back.

"Muramasa Daisuke." He said with spite.

"Uchiha Orion." He said with equal spite.

Kakuzu chuckled at that. "2 clans that have high prestige, and one is severely endangered, if what Leader-sama said about Itachi is true." He chuckled again. Orion's eyes widened and he yelled;

"How do you know Itachi?"

"He joined our organisation, Akatsuki, not that it matters much. And you girl, what's your name?" Momohime shot him such a glare that if it could kill then Kakuzu would have died all 5 times.

"Nara Momohime." She said through clenched teeth.

"Another name of worth. Make sure that they are recognisable after you finish with them. While they don't have achievements of their own other nations will pay a hefty price for their bodies, especially the Uchiha. Make sure his eyes are left undamaged. If they are I'll rip yours out as compensation." He let out another low chuckle after that.

"Let's leave them be." The long haired man said. "You still need to prepare for the ritual Hidan."

"Right." The three of them left the cells.

"DAMN IT!" Orion yelled. "I'm going to die with so many regrets." He said sadly. "I'm never going to avenge my family, I'll never kill the masked man and I never apologised to Sasuke!" He started breathing heavily. He got confused looks from Daisuke and Momohime so he decided to elaborate. "After the massacre we decided to stay out of each others way and go down our own separate paths. Neither of us were in the right state state of mind to be deciding things like that! I pushed away the only family I had left." He said the last part quietly before quietly shedding tears of sorrow and frustration.

"I'll be leaving my mother alone." Daisuke said. "When I was a baby my parents moved to Konoha because my mother fell gravely ill and she had family there. My father was born in** Tetsu no Kuni **(Land if Iron), that's where they lived before. My father registered to be a shinobi and was automatically promoted to jonin due his title and rank in **Tetsu no Kuni **(Land of Iron). He was killed on a mission by Kirigakure shinobi. My uncle then moved in with us and looked after my mother and me. She only got worse as time went on. The doctor said she only had a couple of years left before her body just gives up. Despite this she's always thinking of everybody else. The only reason I went on this mission and left her was because she convinced me to. I wanted to stay behind and look after her but she said she wouldn't let my shinobi career be jeopardized thanks to her." He looked Orion in the eye and said;

"We understand each others pain, you and I. I know its horrible to say this, but I'm glad I wasn't the only one who knew what is was like, that I knew someone who could relate to me. I feel so helpless and useless all the time. I can't even help the person who means the most to me. Can you relate to that?"

"I can." He sniffled. "I always feel helpless whenever I think of the massacre. I couldn't protect any of them. It's part of the reason I pushed Sasuke away, if he died I didn't want to feel that way again."

"What about you Momo-chan?" Daisuke asked. "Do you ever feel anything like that?"

She smiled a fake looking smile. "I can't say I do. I have both my parents but I have lost people I care about. It's nothing compared to what you've gone through. I feel lonely though, sometimes. I was never like the rest of my family, I always felt different and like that I never truly belonged there. It's stupid really. I should be grateful for everything I have," She never stopped smiling but it never reached her eyes, even in the dark everybody could see that. "but sometimes it gets to me."

Everything was silent except for the breathing of 5 prisoners.

* * *

With The Jashinists (&amp; Kakuzu)

"All finished." A shirtless Hidan said. His Jashin circle was right next to the others.

"We'll sacrifice them at noon, 17 minutes from now." The woman said, also topless. Kakuzu was leaning against the the wall with a frustrated air about him.

"Why can't you just get this over with? What's the difference between doing it now and and when the sun's a little higher in the sky?" Kakuzu said angrily.

"Symbolism." The man said simply.

"Someone's coming." Kakuzu said.

"What!?" Hidan yelled

"6 to be more specific, and they're all on 4 legs." Kakuzu stood properly and pulled up the sleeve of his cloak to reveal a blackened arm. "They're here." As he said that 5 lizards burst through wall of the warehouse, creating a very large hole. Two 3 metre long bearded dragons, one 1 metre long gecko, one 2 metre long chameleon, and a 7 metre long 2 metre tall komodo dragon. Behind the 5 lizards was a mangrove monitor with a man on its back.

"You again!?" The woman shouted. "You should be dead!"

"So should you." He retorted.

"Who fuck is this guy?" Hidan asked.

"Tobirama no **Shakuton **(Scorch Release)." Kakuzu answered. "One of Konoha's top shinobi. He's easily one of the 20 strongest shinobi alive today. Listed in the bingo book for 80,000,000 ryo. We're definitely taking this guy with us."

"I can't let you do that now can I?" He asked rhetorically. "I still need to get my students."

"Die motherfucker!" The man yelled, leaping at Tobirama with his scythe. He was stopped when a pink tongue from a bearded dragon wrapped around his midsection. He raised the scythe and was about to cut off the tongue before it fell from his grasp. He twitched a few times before his entire body went limp. The lizard then threw the man to the side.

"A paralytic poison secretes from his tongue. Immortal or not it will affect you." Tobirama said.

The komodo dragon slashed its deadly claws at the woman who used her scythe to block it. She leapt overhead and swung her scythe downward in the middle of the giant lizards back. It didn't penetrate the dense scales very deeply though. The lizard bucked and threw her off his back. She smirked and ran towards the forest.

"Go after her!" Tobirama ordered. The lizard obeyed and ran after the woman.

The gecko latched herself onto Tobirama's back, put her front legs on his shoulders and wrapped her tail around his waist.

"You know what to do Cheria-sama." Tobirama said to the reptile on his back.

"I know boy, now get your hatchings back. It's shameful on your part that they got captured in the first place." She scolded. She then closed her eyes in concentration and linked her chakra to Tobirama's. "I'm not as young as I used to be so this'll take a while."

"Right." Tobirama responded.

The two bearded dragons confronted the long haired man who had his two weapons prepared. They shot they're tongues at him but he deflected them. They then started battling furiously.

That left Hidan and Kakuzu to fight Tobirama.

"Don't think that I'm letting you get away from me. You have quite a bounty you see." Kakuzu said, removing his cloak.

"I know. I am the one who earned it after all." Tobirama said, channelling his chakra into Daisuke's sword, creating a great amount of flames.

"You will fucking pay for interrupting Jashin-sama's holy day you blasphemous bastard!" Hidan yelled, pointing his tri-bladed scythe at Tobirama.

"We're your opponents!" A female voice yelled. Hidan looked behind him to see Orion, Momohime and Daisuke reclothed and ready to fight him. Tobirama smirked and threw the sword to Daisuke who caught it.

"I guess you'll be sacrificed after all." Hidan said with a grin.

* * *

A Few Minutes Earlier in the Cells

"Do you hear that?" Orion asked.

"Sensei?" Momohime said hopefully.

"Nope, just me." A disembodied voice said.

"Who's there?" Daisuke asked.

The chameleon made himself visible. "I'm your Sensei's summoning. My name's Tokagecamo and I'm here to get you out of here." With that he wrapped his tongue around the bars of Yachimaru's cell and ripped the door off of its hinges. He then scampered over to Yachimaru and used his sharp tail to cut the cuffs off. "Brace yourself."

"Why?" Yachimaru had his question answered when he was sprayed with a blast of warm water from Tokagecamo's mouth.

"A little warning would've been nice." Yachimaru mumbled. Tokagecamo then proceeded to follow the same pattern with Suichi and Momohime, then Orion and Daisuke.

"We still need our clothes." Orion said.

"There was a crate next to entrance of this room. I'll check there." Tokagecamo said and then scampered up the stairs.

"Will we even be able to fight though?" Momohime asked. "We haven't eaten or drank properly in two days. We might just get in Sensei's way."

"We'll have to try anyway. We can't just leave Sensei to fight all five of them alone." Daisuke said. Tokagecamo came back with a bunch of clothes in his tongue.

"Here, and hurry. Tobirama is about to fight 2 of them at once." They quickly dressed despite being wet and quickly ran up the stairs. "Good luck." The chameleon said before returning to his homeland.

"You two stay here." Orion said to Suichi and Yachimaru as he closed the trapdoor.

"You will fucking pay for interrupting Jashin-sama's holy day you blasphemous bastard!" They heard Hidan yell as he pointed his weapon at Tobirama.

"We're your opponents!" Momohime yelled at him. Tobirama smiled and threw the sword to Daisuke who caught it.

Hidan turned to them and said;

"I guess you'll be sacrificed after all." Hidan charged at them with his scythe ready to bisect somebody. Daisuke set his sword ablaze and swung to block Hidan's attack.

"Don't let his blade touch you!" Orion yelled. "With just one drop of blood he'll be able to kill you."

"Got it!" Daisuke said back. "Tell me, it's being albino a requirement to joining your fruity club?" Daisuke asked, referring to the silver hair and purple eyes every Jashinist seemed to have.

"When one is gifted with Jashin-sama's gifts this is what happens. It brings us closer to him." Hidan answered. "And don't speak lowly of Jashin-sama you little fucker!"

Orion prepared a **Raiton: Yaiba** (Lightning Release: Sword) and attacked Hidan from behind. He was about to decapitate him but Hidan pulled out black spear to block his blade. With his strength Hidan overwhelmed Daisuke and forced him into the wall. He turned and would've bisected Orion with his scythe if Momohime hadn't used her **Kagemane **(Shadow Possession) to have Orion avoid it by bending over backwards and then jumping back to safety. Momohime then directed her shadow at Hidan. He saw it coming and jumped on the wall and used his chakra to keep him there. Orion then shot a fireball at that he easily avoided. Daisuke ran up the wall and swung his sword to create an arc of flames that went straight towards Hidan. Hidan batted it away with his scythe and charged at a high speed towards Daisuke. Daisuke pushed himself off the wall and landed on the ground next to Momohime.

"It's hard to fight this guy with such little chakra." Daisuke commented.

"It's hard to fight this guy period." Orion said as he joined his teammates.

**BOOM! **They heard a loud noise and looked behind them to see a large winged black creature come through the hole in the front of the warehouse. It ignored them and went back out to do whatever it was doing before.

"That guy got Kakuzu to use that? The bastard must be strong if that's the case." Hidan smiled a sick smile. "That makes it all the sweeter when I sacrifice him to Jashin-sama!" Hidan threw his scythe at the genin. This forced them to scatter. Hidan pulled the scythe back to him by the rope that was connected to it and jumped at Orion. The boy used the **Raiton: Yaiba **(Lightning Release: Sword) to parry the man's scythe but it smashed, the force of it breaking the boys arm, and Orion fell to the ground.

_'Dammit!' _Orion thought. _'I'm out of Chakra!'_

Hidan raised his weapon and swung down at Orion. Orion closed his eyes, expecting death. It didn't come. The boy looked up and saw Daisuke holding back the attack with his sword. Orion could tell by looking that Daisuke wouldn't last much longer. He didn't need to because Momohime swiftly used **Kagemane **(Shadow Possession) to freeze Hidan. Daisuke used this opportunity to cut off Hidan's right arm, the one holding his scythe. The two quickly leapt away to Momohime's side just before her jutsu broke and Hidan was free.

"You little bitch that fucking hurt!" He said angrily. "I'm gonna kill you very slowly." He picked his scythe in his left hand and was about to charge before he yelled;

"WHAT!? Already? Come on! I was just about to get to the good part." He complained to seemingly nobody. "Fine. Consider yourself lucky you little fuckers. I've got stuff to do." With that he picked up his arm in his mouth and left through the hole.

The three gave chase and saw Hidan and his partner leaving in a hurry.

* * *

A Few Minutes Earlier, Tobirama vs Kakuzu

"I guess it's just you and me now." Tobirama stated.

"I suppose it is." Kakuzu said. With great speed he leapt at Tobirama and was about to punch with his blackened arm. They lizard jumped back in order to protect his master.

"You can leave now Tokagehiro-san. I can handle it from here." Tobirama said to the lizard.

"Riiight." He hissed before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Tobirama manifested a whip of fire in his left hand and whipped it at Kakuzu. Kakuzu blocked it with his forearm and it wrapped around it. The flame whip dispersed and as soon as it did Kakuzu sent his hand, which was connected to his arm by black threads, at Tobirama.

"**Shakuton: Doraiyashi** (Scorch Release: Dry Palm)!" Tobirama yelled, striking his hand forward to meet Kakuzu's. His fingertips easily tore through Kakuzu's hand and into the threads. Tobirama smirked before the threads started to wrap around his arm. He quickly lost his smirk and used the technique on his entire arm, pulling it free of the threads. He jumped back and was surprised when Kakuzu, with great speed, was in front of him. He dodged a punch and threw his own that hit Kakuzu in the jaw. It didn't do much to deter him. Tobirama decided to leave the one sided taijutsu battle and move onto ninjutsu.

"**Shakuton: Nami** (Scorch Release: Wave)!" The hot wave sent Kakuzu backwards bit did little in causing substantial damage. Tobirama took out a shuriken and spun it on his middle finger, channelling his chakra into it. It spun faster until visible wind was coming from it. He threw it at Kakuzu who moved to the side to avoid it. He would been safe had the wind radius not expanded and cut 2 inches into the left side of his chest. He grunted in pain as Tobirama threw 2 more shuriken that were parallel to each other. Kakuzu jumped in between them only to have another aimed to cut him in half. He hardened his right arm and used it to block the shuriken. It cut into him slightly but it didn't bother him much. He grasped the shuriken at the centre and threw it back at Tobirama who side-stepped it.

"I thinks it's high time we take this battle up a notch." Tobirama said.

"I agree." Was Kakuzu's response.

"You ready Cheria-sama?" Tobirama asked the reptile on his back.

"Yep, just about." Tobirama closed his eyes in concentration and let the natural chakra flow into him. His sclera turned bright green and his iris' and his iris and pupil elongated into a slitted pupil. Scales appeared under his eyes and his fingernails became claws. The lizard then disappeared from his back.

"Senjutsu eh? I've only fought one other shinobi who used it. He was also from Konoha. You might know him as the Shodai Hokage: Senju Hashirama!" Kakuzu's body began to convulge and spasm. Four black creatures emerged from his back, each with a different mask. One was on all fours with wings that had a mask with a dark blue mark on its left cheek. Another was tall, skinny and had a mask with a yellow nose and horns. The remaining 2 were similar but one was taller with longer limbs. The taller one had a mask with light blue marks on either side. The last one had a mask with red around the mouth.

"Let's see if you can compare to him!" Kakuzu said. The quadruped and red mask sent a blast of wind and fire respectively that Tobirama equalled with a **Shakuton: Nami** (Scorch Release: Wave). The collision resulted in a loud boom. The quadruped then speedily leapt at him. He punched it in the side and sent it into the warehouse. It came out after only a few seconds and immediately went back to Kakuzu's side. The tall one sent a torrent of lightning at Tobirama that he avoided.

Kakuzu ran at Tobirama with the creatures flanking him. They each sent an attack that he narrowly avoided. Fire, lightning, wind, earth, Tobirama avoided them each in turn with fluid movements, sending out blasts of condensed hot air at each. The attacks only created holes that quickly repaired themselves.

Kakuzu suddenly stopped attacking.

"Hm. I see. Very well, but know that I was about to collect a hefty bounty." He said to apparently nobody. "Our battle stops here, Tobirama no **Shakuton** (Scorch Release), I have other duties to attend to." With that the creatures returned to Kakuzu's body. He retrieved his cloak and brief case. Hidan ran out of the building and the two quickly retreated into the forest.

"Well that happened." Tobirama said, exciting sage mode. He started breathing heavily, placing his hands on his knees order to keep himself steady. "That always takes a whole lot out of me."

* * *

With the Woman and Komodo Dragon

The fight against the big lizard was tough. The woman had deep wounds all over her body and was breathing heavily. The reptile was worse though, with deep gashes penetrating his scales, he was barely conscious. The lizard disappeared in a large puff of white smoke. The woman grinned but looked confused for a second as Hidan and Kakuzu ran by her.

"What happened brother?" She asked, running alongside them.

"Our damned Leader has summoned us to something." Was his response.

"Important enough to ignore the ritual!?" She exclaimed furiously.

"It is." Kakuzu responded.

"Kakuzu, she's on a level about equal to mine. Do ya think she'd be able to join?" Hidan enquired.

"She can't. Unless you have forgotten when Orochimaru defected he took his ring with him, leaving us unable to replace him!" He said, sounding like was quickly losing his patience.

"Oh yeah. I forgot."

"Besides, the last thing we need in our organisation is another one of you."

"FUCK YOU!" Hidan and the woman said simultaneously.

* * *

With the Long Haired Man

Both of the bearded dragons disappeared in a puff of smoke. He had managed to injure them enough to the extent that they were unable to continue fighting. He had to cut off his right arm from the elbow down to stop the paralytic poison one them hit him with from spreading. Using his blood he made a Jashin circle and placed his severed arm inside it. He placed the palm of his hand on the circle and it started to glow. His hand re-attached itself to his arm.

_'This is a very useful ability.' _He thought. _'If these cultists weren't so crazy about their religion they would have a lot of military potential. My work is done here. I should report back to Orochimaru-sama.' _He then began to run in the opposite direction to Hidan and Kakuzu, towards Otogakure.

* * *

With Team 2

Tobirama entered the warehouse and walked up to the genin and smiled. They smiled back. Tobirama suddenly scooped all three of his students into a bear hug.

"I'm so sorry I let this happen, I'll never leave you alone again I swear!" Tobirama said with anime tears going down his cheeks.

"My arm Sensei! My arm!" Orion yelled. Tobirama put them down.

"Get a room." A voice said. The man was shakily standing on his legs with one hand on the wall for balance. "I'm still gonna sacrifice you!" He yelled.

Tobirama held his hand out to Daisuke. "Your sword please." Daisuke handed Tobirama his sword. He then quickly went over to and decapitated the man.

"FUCK!" He yelled. "Not again!" Tobirama then summoned a large green chameleon.

"Take this man and his body to Konoha." Tobirama, out of the corner of his eye, saw the man's duel sided scythe. "And that too." He added, pointing to the weapon. He then took out a scroll and started writing in it. "Here." The chameleon stuck out his tongue and took the scroll, head, body and weapon into his mouth. It then blended in with the background and made his way to west to Konoha.

"Let's get those 2 and head to the nearest town." Tobirama said.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

"Orochimaru-sama, I have the information you asked of me." The long haired man said.

"Very good Hiroshi-san." The snake man said.

"I also encountered the boy you're interested in. The Uchiha."

"Oh really, what did you learn?"

"I didn't confront him directly but from what occurred I can safely say that he is a low chunin level. He and his teammates managed to go against an S-rank ninja from Akatsuki for a short period of time. Had they been at full health they may have been a challenge for him."

"That is interesting. Very well done."

"Thank you Orochimaru-sama." Hiroshi said with a bow.

_'Along with the information Danzo sent me I will soon be able to claim the boy.' _Orochimaru thought.

* * *

With Team 2 and Suichi + Yachimaru

"I've sent word to the capital. They are sending a norimono with 3 of the **Shugonin Jūnishi** (Guardian Shinobi 12) for extra security. They'll be here tomorrow." Tobirama informed the group, who were in an inn in a small town.

"I am grateful, Tobirama-san." Suichi said. "Without you we would have all certainly died. We are forever in your debt." She unconsciously placed her hand over her stomach.

"It was my duty, Suichi-sama." Tobirama said nonchalantly.

"Suichi-san is fine." She corrected.

"Alright." He smiled.

* * *

**Longest chapter to date, even when excluding everything I put in at the top. Reviews inspire me to write more, so ya know. If anyone reads the stories I recommended let me know. I'd also like to know what you think of what I added to Jashinism. **

**Those who thought I didn't handle the Sasuke situation well, I hope you like the explanation I gave. If not then too bad, I'm not changing it unless you can come up with something better.**

**If anyone has any criticisms I'd like to hear them. It helps me grow as a writer. If anyone notices any grammar or spelling mistakes let me know, I don't have a beta.**

**I bid you adieu.**


	10. The Akatsuki and Homecoming

**Published: 31st May 2015**

**I apologise for the wait but I had Summer exams to study for. I'm in transition year so they're not taken very seriously but I still needed to study properly for the likes of maths, English and physics because they have sway in what level of classes I get into next year. I also had to go out job hunting. The primary reason is because I want the PS4 for Storm 4. I'm absolutely psyched for it.**

**Anyway on with the story.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Akatsuki and Homecoming**

* * *

In a cave in eastern **Ame no Kuni **(Land of Rain) there was a large, demonic statute. On the fingertips of this statute were 8 figures, 1 of which was corporeal and the remaining 7 were holographic. At the base of the statute was the corpse of a large, red armoured man.

"It is finished. The Gobi is sealed." A monotone voice said. "Well done, Konan-san, for capturing the Gobi jinchūriki. Congratulations on procuring our first bijū."

"It was my pleasure to serve the organisation, Pein-sama." She responded.

"Any updates on the whereabouts of Orochimaru?" Pein asked.

"There is nothing new." A raspy voice coming from a short, hunched man said. "My spy among Orochimaru's ranks has not had the opportunity to report back to me."

"That is disappointing Sasori-san. Don't stop attempting to gather information. Also, how is the search for our last member?" Pein asked.

"Right now we have no leads." Sasori replied.

"Not surprising, S-rank nukenin are hard hard to come by." Hidan said.

"Quite." Pein said. "Does anyone else have anything to say?"

"I have something that might be worth mentioning." Kakuzu said.

"Please Kakuzu-san, enlighten us." Kisame said sarcastically.

"It actually has something to do with your partner, Kisame-san." Kakuzu said. "Before we were called upon to seal the Gobi Hidan and I encountered a boy with the name Uchiha. It is my understanding that Itachi killed them all, or did he miss one? Were you a little off your game when slaughtering your kin, or did a mere child manage to outsmart you?"

"I don't see why it is of your concern whether or not I left any survivors. Nor is it your concern the reasons why." Itachi said.

"Survivors, as in more than one?" Kakuzu grinned under his mask. "Did you happen to show mercy Itachi-san?"

"Like I said, my reasons for leaving survivors are my own, and not to be known by the likes of you Kakuzu-san." Itachi said calmly. "Besides, why would you of all people have an interest in my actions?"

"I simply want to know whether or not I will have a sizeable bounty to collect one day. Any Uchihas left are bound to be strong one day." Kakuzu said nonchalantly. "Just to let you know, he seemed interested in you. I think he might be out for revenge." Kakuzu chuckled darkly after he said that.

"Enough Kakuzu." Pein said, directing his ripple pattern eyes towards the bounty hunter.

"This meeting is done, everyone leave. You have your assignments." After Pein said that 6 of the holograms flickered out, only his own and Konan remained. "Return to Amegakure as soon as possible." too flickered out. The lone female of Akatsuki gracefully jumped off her position on the statue, and as she descended said statue disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Out of the corner of her eye she looked at the corpse. _'You were a formidable opponent, Han no Iwagakure.'_ She thought. _'I haven't had a battle that challenging since Sasori.'_

"And so it begins." A dark voice said. Konan was immediately on guard and faced the voice. Leaning against the wall was a man in dark clothing, a long dark green scarf and armour plates on his upper arms and his hips. He stepped out of the shadows to reveal that he was wearing an orange spiral mask with one eye hole. In the eye hole was a sharingan eye.

"Madara-san," Konan said, not letting her guard down. "might I ask what you're doing here?"

"I'm just seeing project Tsuki-no-Me progress," he walked over to Han's corpse. "and to retrieve the body." A swirling vortex originated from the man's eye and sucked the corpse in. "Have Sasori keep tabs on Uchiha Orion." That took Konan by surprise.

"Why? What is your interest in him?" Madara turned and looked her in the eye.

"That boy has something very special inside him, something that I plan to one day take advantage of." He answered.

"What does he have that's so special as to warrant your curiosity?" She asked with a sceptical look, still not letting her guard down.

"Even I don't understand it completely. The only option is to wait and see how it develops." He said. _'After all, it's only good sense to have a backup plan.' _He walked up to Konan. She put her arm in front of her and dissipated it into paper.

"No need for that. I was just going to take a shortcut to Amegakure." She let her her jutsu go and he put his hand on her shoulder. "You still don't trust me eh?"

"You haven't given me a good reason to yet."

"True." They both then disappeared to into the vortex.

* * *

**With Hidan and Kakuzu**

Two men were in a forest, well, one tall man and one taller than average teenage boy. Both were sitting on the ground with their legs crossed and their hands in a ram hand sign.

"Fuck, 3 days of nothing will make you stiff." Hidan said, rubbing the back of his neck. "And we have to do it 8 more times. Hey Kakuzu, why were you so interested in the Uchiha kid. And why would bother arguing with that brat Itachi?"

Kakuzu sighed in frustration. "Like I said; if there's a bounty to be collected then I want to be prepared. And if Itachi's a brat, what does that make you?"

"Hey you fucker, I'm 15 he's 13! Big difference!" Hidan yelled.

"When you're 82 that isn't any difference at all. You're both brats to me."

"Tch, whatever."

"Where is that woman gone?" Kakuzu said angrily.

"Weren't you listening asshole! Before we started sealing the Gobi she said she was going to a nearby fishing village to sacrifice the lot in order to make it up to Jashin-sama!" He said angrily. "The worst part is that I'm not able to participate. JASHIN DAMN IT!"

"Can't you shut up about your bullshit religion for 5 minutes."

In anger Hidan swung his scythe at Kakuzu. The man easily caught it in his left hand. Using his right hand he grabbed the others wrist and pulled while simultaneously pushing his ribs with his right leg.

"RAAAHHHH!" Kakuzu yelled, ripping Hidan's arm off.

"Fuck Kakuzu that hurt! You know the stitches haven't healed yet!" Hidan yelled at Kakuzu while dropping his scythe and holding his stump. In response Kakuzu hit Hidan across the head with his own arm and then threw it on the ground.

"Stop pissing me off." Kakuzu grumbled and started walking away.

"Hey come on Kakuzu don't just leave me here. Fix my arm you bastard!" Hidan yelled furiously.

"Fix it yourself." Kakuzu said without looking back.

"DAMN IT KAKUZU I'M SO GOING TO SACRIFICE YOU TO JASHIN-SAMA!" Hidan yelled. _'Why couldn't everyone have gotten the ability to heal themselves and not just brother.' _Hidan thought. _'You fool! Don't question the way Jashin-sama thinks.' _Hidan grabbed his arm and ran after Kakuzu.

* * *

**With Itachi and Kisame**

Itachi and Kisame were sitting on the bank of a lake, both of then just getting back to their real bodies.

"Well that was bothersome." Kisame remarked. "I didn't expect that to take 3 days." Itachi stood up and started walking along the edge of the river.

"I must say, after Kakuzu brought it up I am wondering why you left any survivors at all." Kisame said, also getting up and following Itachi. "Come on, aren't you going to tell me?" Kisame asked. "Am I not on the need to know list?" He continued with a sharp toothed smirk.

"Like I told Kakuzu, my reasons are my own." Itachi said.

"Come on. Give me a hint."

"..." Itachi said nothing.

"Hm. I'll find out eventually."

* * *

**With Pein**

An orange haired man was sitting on the tongue of metal human head that was attached to a tall skyscraper. The man was wearing a black cloak with red clouds, had piercings on his face and light purple eyes with a ripple effect. This man was known as Pein, the unknown leader of Amegakure and the figurehead leader of Akatsuki. The rain was coming down in bucket-loads on the city he was looking over. He heard a familiar noise behind him and entered the skyscraper.

"Madara-san, I wasn't expecting you so quickly." He said. Konan stepped out from behind the masked man.

"As I was telling Konan not so long ago, I want you to have Sasori keep tabs on Uchiha Orion." He said.

"And why would you want that?"

"I dislike having to repeat myself," Madara said. "but I guess I have to. The boy has something special inside him that I one day plan to harvest for the security of protect Tsuki-no-Me." Pein thought about it for a second before saying;

"Very well, it will be done."

"Very good." He then turned and teleported away with a whoosh.

"I don't trust him Nagato." Konan said.

"He is a necessary evil in order to cure this pain filled world." Nagato responded. "Like it or not we need him."

"Yes, I know, but that does not change the fact that I feel as if he is using us."

"Even if that is the case then we will be tools used to bring peace to the world. We will be the pillars that support the bridge of Yahiko's dream."

"No, I am the pillar that supports _you_, Nagato." Nagato said nothing after that, Pein only made a single hand sign.

* * *

**With Sasori**

In a workshop in western **Hi no Kuni **(Land of Fire) a man who looked like a boy was wearing a black cloak with red clouds. On the walls of his spacious workshop were hundreds of humanoid wooden figures, some with large appendages and attachments, others looking more human. He was currently working on a poison, using a pestle and mortar to grind herbs into a fine powder. He suddenly went still before saying;

"Of course, Leader-sama, I'll look into the boy if it is necessary." Sasori sighed after that. "Just another thing to get in my way." He finished grinding the powder and placed it in a jar on shelf before turning to his favourite puppet. He held his left hand out and attached chakra strings to the Hiruko puppet. It opened up and he lay inside it. It quickly snapped shut. The human puppet then began to make his way out of the workshop.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

"Achoo!" Orion suddenly sneezed.

"Gesundheit." Momohime said.

"Thanks."

At night the team was walking through the streets of the capital, noting how everyone was dressed in fine clothes and all the buildings were intricately designed.

"Everything is so luxurious here." Momohime said, looking around.

"Meanwhile there are villages in this country that struggle to feed their inhabitants." Daisuke said with a little bit of spite.

"Well this _is _where most, if not all, of **Hi no Kuni's **(Land of Fire) nobles live. They're used to a life of luxury." Orion commented. "Dammit my arm's itchy!" Orion said, pulling at the cast on his left arm.

"No, bad Orion!" Momohime said, flicking Orion on the temple. "No pulling at your cast."

"But-"

"No buts!"

"Sheesh Momo-chan, you're like a dictator." Daisuke commented.

"I know," she said smirking. "but I don't care." She continued stopping Orion from scratching his itch.

As the trio continued walking through the streets Orion noticed that he was getting a few strange looks and some people were whispering as they looked at him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a teenage boy dressed very smartly gesturing towards his back and whispering to his friend. Orion then realised what all the looks were about; the symbol on his back. The news of the massacre, at this point, was guaranteed to have reached the capital by now. They all probably thought it very strange to see an Uchiha sauntering through the streets of the city, seeing as there were only 3 left.

Orion looked the teenage boy in the eye with a glare. He had the decency to look embarrassed as he lightly blushed, ceased his whispering and looked down.

After a little longer Orion got more and more pissed. Especially as they crossed 2 plump middle aged men with snooty ascents talking.

"Oh my look, an Uchiha," he said to his companion. "didn't think I'd see one of them again after they were all slaughtered by that prodigy boy."

"Well what do you expect, they were all shinobi, the lot of them are barbarians. They probably brought their fate on themselves. Shinobi are mindless fools that do nothing but kill each other. And the Uchiha were more shinobi than anyone else." They both started loudly and obnoxiously laughing.

Orion balled his good hand into a fist hard enough to make himself bleed. The cast on his arm was almost breaking at the force he was putting on it. He started breathing deeply and felt like that he would soon be putting their heads through a wall. He was beat to it though. Momohime stormed passed him and walked with powerful stride towards them. They let out a shrill yell and one tried to run away. She grabbed him, and the other, by the collar.

"Listen you ignorant shits," she yelled angrily. "you don't have the fucking _right_, to talk like that! The shinobi if this country give their lives on a daily basis to make sure that pampered ingrates like you can live your lives of unearned luxury! They at least deserve your respect if not your gratitude." The men were sweating bullets and were cowering in fear. "The Uchiha even more so! Without them the shinobi nations probably wouldn't even exist, or have you never even opened a book on the history of your own country?" She asked rhetorically. She then threw them onto the ground. "If this is what you think of shinobi then you don't deserve their protection." She went quiet, her hair shadowing her eyes. "What happened to the Uchiha was a tragedy, the worst ever to occur in **Hi no Kuni **(Land of Fire)." She walked away, ignoring the crowd that gathered as they made a path for her, and grabbed Orion by the hand. She led him away and Daisuke followed. They walked away, heading towards the inn they were staying in.

"You didn't have to do that." Orion said.

"Yes I did!" Momohime exclaimed. "I couldn't just let them get away with saying stuff like that. I couldn't let then make light of something so tragic. And the way they were talking about shinobi, I mean how ignorant can people be!?"

"Momohime, you should really calm down now." Daisuke said, putting his hand on Momohime's shoulder. Momohime abruptly stopped walking and took in a deep breath. She exhaled and visibly calmed down.

"You're right Daisuke-kun," she let go of Orion's hand and turned to face Daisuke with a fake smile. "I'm a shinobi, I should be able to control my emotions." Daisuke looked taken aback at Momohime's sudden change in demeanour.

"Momo-chan, it's just that-" he was cut off.

"No you're right, I should really have better control of myself." She said. Daisuke looked like he wanted to say more but restrained himself as he knew he wouldn't get anywhere.

"Let's get to the inn, sensei should be back by now." They made it to the inn in silence, their sensei was back.

They walked through the door and Tobirama immediately said;

"I sense tension and awkwardness between the three of you. What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about." Orion said and then lay himself down on his bed. Tobirama raised an eyebrow at Daisuke and Momohime. Daisuke sighed and spread eagle on his bed. Momohime then said;

"It's not important." Tobirama sighed.

"If you say so. Anyway the meeting went well, Konoha will help** Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water). We'll be leaving for Yugakure in 3 days, with three of the **Shugonin Jūnishi** (Guardian Shinobi 12). Hopefully we won't run into anymore cults." He was met with silence.

* * *

**13 Days Later in Yugakure**

Yachimaru, Suichi and team 2 were in the Daimyo's palace and the newlyweds were getting yelled at by the Daimyo.

"WHAT!? YOU GOT MARRIED IN** YU NO KUNI **(Land of Fire)!? WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! HOW COULD YOU GO AGAINST OUR TRADITIONS LIKE THIS? WHAT COMPELLED YOU TO DO SOMETHING SO IDIOTIC?" He yelled.

"Well uh," Yachimaru stuttered. "we d-didn't want to w-wait another y-year for-"

"YOU DIDN'T WANT TO WAIT!? DON'T GIVE ME THAT! IF YOU WANTED TO MARRY SOONER YOU COULD HAVE REQUESTED IT AND YOU KNOW IT. Now, tell. Me. Why. You. Married."

"Yachimaru, let's just tell him." Suichi said, putting her hand on her husbands shoulder.

"Tell me what?" The Daimyo asked. Suichi placed her hand over her stomach.

"Well, it's like this," Yachimaru said, looking nervous. "uh well, um, uh..." Yachimaru stammered.

"Oh for Kami's sake," Suichi said, pushing past Yachimaru. "I'm pregnant." She said confidently. The look on the Daimyo's face was that of utter shock. "And, needless to say, Yachimaru's the father." She looked her father-in-law in the eye. He frowned deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'll deal with you 2 later." he looked at the seven shinobi that stood behind his son, three of whom were wearing a sash around their waste with the symbol for 'fire' on it. "I thank all of you for your work on this mission, especially you Tobirama-san, and your students. I shall send compensation to your village for the trouble you experienced."

"Thank you." Tobirama said politely. _'That was a little more than trouble.' _He thought. "I think it's time we head back to our village, don't you think kiddos?"

"Sure." Daisuke said.

"I guess so." Orion replied.

"Let's go." Momohime said. Tobirama walked up to Yachimaru and held his hand out.

"It was good to work with you Yachimaru-san." Yachimaru shook his hand.

"It was good to work with you too."

"I hope we see each other again some time Tobirama-san." Suichi said, bringing Tobirama into a hug.

"I hope so too." He replied, returning the gesture. She then walked up to Orion and Daisuke and hugged the two of them.

"I hope things get better for you guys, you've had it rough. I'll miss you." She tightened her embrace, squeezing them into her bosom. They both blushed.

"I'll miss you too Suichi-san." Orion said awkwardly.

"Yeah, me too." Daisuke said. She then released the two of them from her grip.

"Let's get going now." Tobirama said, putting his hands on his students' backs, guiding them out of the throne room. They were followed by the three other shinobi.

"It was good to see you Asuma-san." Tobirama said to one of the three shinobi, the one that had a beard.

"You too uh...what was your name again?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head. Tobirama chuckled.

"Tobirama, Kurawara Tobirama, and we've never met before, I just happen to know Kurenai." He said that last part with a wink. Asuma blushed a very deep red. He was visibly stunned, so much so that he dropped the cigarette he was about to light.

"See you later Asuma-san." Tobirama led the genin out.

"So who's this Kurenai person?" A bald monk asked, lightly elbowing the still stunned Asuma in the ribs.

* * *

**Three Days Later**

Team 2 was back in the village, giving their mission report to the Hokage.

"I see, well that was an interesting turn of events, Tobirama-san. We have in fact been looking into this organisation known as Akatsuki. The information you have given us will be very helpful indeed." The Hokage said.

"We're glad to have helped Hokage-sama, now if you don't mind my team and I have to get some rest." Tobirama said.

"Of course, of course. You are all dismissed." With that the team bowed and took their leave.

Outside the Hokage tower the team was met met by Yukino. She walked up to the team with a too sweet smile on her face.

"Hello there Otouto, Daisuke-san, Momohime-san, Orion-kun. How was your mission?" She asked in an also too sweet tone.

"It was fine Nee-chan, really, in was nothing too major." Tobirama said quickly.

"Oh really, then tell me, how did Orion-kun break his arm?"

"Well um it's a funny story, it happened when um-" he stopped blabbering when Yukino out her hand up in order to silence him. She crouched down to Orion's eye level.

"Orion-kun, please tell me how you broke your arm." She said, not losing her smile.

"You see it's a funny story, it happened when, um..." Orion suddenly found his sandals very interesting.

"I'm waiting." She said. Orion gulped.

At this time Momohime and Daisuke very quietly snook away from the others and began making their way to their own homes.

"Ithappenedwhenacrazycultistbrokemyjutsuwithamassivescythe." He said very quickly.

"Thank you Orion-kun." Yukino then looked her little brother in the eye and started dragging him by the collar to her home.

"No Nee-chan please no don't!" He yelled uselessly, garnering odd looks from bystanders. Orion silently prayed for the well-being of his sensei. He then began to make his way to the Uchiha compound. He didn't however go to his own house. He instead make his way to the home of the only other inhabitant of the compound.

He soon reached the front door of Sasuke's house. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After 20 seconds of waiting the door opened to reveal a raven haired 8 year old boy.

"Orion." Sasuke said in surprise.

"Hey Sasuke, can I come in?" He asked.

"Uh sure, come on in." Sasuke then let his cousin into his house. Sasuke led him into the kitchen and offered him a seat. "So what brings you here Orion?"

"I wanted to apologise Sasuke."

"Apologise!? Apologise for what?"

"For not being there for you after the massacre!" Orion said. "Because of the massacre we lost everything, and everyone. All the most important bonds we made throughout our whole lives were severed in an instant. Neither of us were in a good place, we decided to drive each other away order to not deepen anymore bonds. That was a mistake, we should have been there for each other instead of going our own ways." Orion looked Sasuke dead in the eye. There was a look of shock on Sasuke's face. "The bonds we lost are irreplaceable, but that doesn't mean we can't make new ones. Since that night I've been angry, really angry, but forging new bonds helps. The people I've come to care about," images of Tobirama, Yukino, Daisuke and Momohime popped into his head. "they help make it better. Do you have anyone at all you can form a bond with?"

Sasuke furrowed his brows, taking in all of the new information, and began to think of an answer Orion's question. "I think I do." He replied.

"Then latch onto it and forge it. You will find that it will help you like nothing else can."

"Orion, on that night Itachi told me that in order to face him I'd have to have the same eyes as him, and to get them I would need to take the life of my best friend. If I forge this bond I might end up severing it myself for power. What if-" Orion didn't let him continue.

"Don't gain power the way Itachi wants you to. In the end it won't matter, the bond itself will be worth fighting for. After forging my new bonds my need for revenge has gone down and my will to preserve my bonds has taken its place. If they help me they'll help you too." Orion looked Sasuke in the eye and smiled. "Trust me."

"Okay Orion, I'll try. I'll forge a new bond."

"Great, you won't regret it. And tomorrow, will you meet me after the academy at training ground 2, I'd like to help you in any way I can."

"Sure thing Orion, I'd be glad. I'll see you then."

"I'll see you, and I'll let myself out."

"Bye."

"Bye."

After Orion left he let out a sigh of relief, as if a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and smiled.

* * *

**I hope the pacing of everything is alright. Just so you all know I know Hidan was actually last to join the Akatsuki, not Deidara but in order for things to match up better I am doing it this way. **

**For all of you who wanted more Sasuke and Orion interaction I hope you're all happy.**

**I bid you all adieu.**


	11. The Claimed

**Published: 16th June 2015**

**Hey all, I hope the last chapter was satisfying. I hope I captured the personalities of the Akatsuki alright. The whole exchange with Sasuke was fun to write.**

**In case anyone was wondering Orion's birthday is February, the massacre is in March and now we're into January by the end of the chapter.**

**On with the story.**

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Claimed**

* * *

It had been 10 weeks since Orion had come back from his mission and promised to strengthen his bond with Sasuke, and he made good on that promise.

"Come on Sasuke, faster." Orion said to his cousin.

"I can't _*pant* *pant*_ go any _*pant* _farther_." _He responded, putting his hands on his knees and stopping his sprint around the training field.

"Come on Sasuke-kun," Orion replied, jogging on the spot next to Sasuke. "act like a shinobi."

"I'd have lasted longer if I didn't have to wear these!" He said, holding up his forearms to show his cousin the heavy black weights he was making him wear. He also has a matching pair on his lower legs.

"They'll improve your speed and stamina when they come off. After that you put on heavier ones." Orion said with a grin. "They really help me."

"Yours are way thinner than mine!" Sasuke yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Orion's own platinum coloured weights. "Mine are like an inch thick, yours are less than a centimetre!"

"That's true but mine are way denser. They are still heavier than yours."

"Aaaaahhhhhhh!" Sasuke let out a groan and fell spread eagle on the ground, panting heavily. "It's freezing! Why are we out training in the middle of November?" Orion walked next to Sasuke's head and looked down.

"Well..." He put on a thinking face and then a look of knowing. "We are not on good terms with Kumogakure and they have a cold climate. If we ever go to war with them we may have to endure cold temperatures." He had a grin.

"Smartass." Orion sat down cross legged next to Sasuke and started putting frosted grass on Sasuke's face.

"Stooooop." Sasuke whined, moving his head side to side. He didn't. "How are you not cold?"

"I'm constantly channelling lightning chakra to my limbs to keep warm. It used to shock me but now I've got it under control." He responded, touching the tip of his right index finger to Sasuke's forehead, shocking him.

"Ah!" Sasuke yelped, sitting up and smacking Orion's hand away. He shot a glare at his cousin. Orion only chuckled. The elder quickly stood up, dragging his Sasuke up with him.

"One more lap around the training field." Orion commanded. Sasuke grit his teeth but complied. "You already know the** Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique), right?"

"Right."

"Would you like to learn the **Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu** (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)?" Sasuke stumbled in his stride, surprised by the offer.

"Yeah, I really wanna learn."

"Okay, we'll start tomorrow." Orion smiled at Sasuke.

"I look _*pant* _forward to it." Sasuke replied.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Team 2 were in their training field, and were doing the last part of their last training session before the winter festival. It was the longest of the 4 seasonal festivals, lasting 3 days before the winter solstice until two days after it.

The genin were facing their sensei, looking ready to fight.

"Hajime!" Tobirama yelled. Daisuke's sword burst into flames, Orion prepared a **Raiton: Yaiba **(Lightning Release: Blade) on his arm and Momohime formed a rat hand sign, forming a circle of shadows around her.

Daisuke and Orion charged, the former on the left and the latter, with his red eyes, on the right. Momohime sent sent her shadows shooting between them. Tobirama speedily went through a sequence of handsigns and a wall of earth 2 metres tall shot up in front of him. It stopped Momohime's shadow but Orion sliced right through it. Tobirama jumped back and Daisuke sent an arc of fire at Tobirama. Tobirama waved his hand at the fire and dispersed it. Orion formed 3 kunai of pure lightning in his right hand and flung then at a high speed at Tobirama. To avoid he bent backwards at a 180° angle.

Tobirama felt someone try to intrude on his chakra network. He looked to where Momohime was and saw her melt into the shadows. He looked behind him and saw the real Momohime sending tendrils of shadows at him. Everything around him started to melt into black. It was then he realised he was in a genjutsu. He immediately dispelled it to see Daisuke about to behead him. He whipped out a kunai and channelled **Shakuton **(Scorch Release) chakra into it. He blocked Daisuke's sword and formed a whip of fire in his left hand. He used the whip to wrap around Orion's incoming lightning blade. He pushed Daisuke back and threw Orion behind him near Momohime. He felt intense heat come from behind him. He immediately looked behind him and saw the head of a dragon shooting towards him. It was connected to a stream of fire coming from Orion's mouth. Tobirama sent a powerful wave of hot air out of his palm. The dragon tried to force its way to Tobirama but it wasn't strong enough. Tobirama then took control of the flames and redirected them to Orion. Orion countered with a large **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique).

Momohime sent her shadows darting towards Tobirama, but as they neared him they shot up from the ground.

"**Kage Nui no Jutsu** (Shadow Sewing Technique)!" she yelled.

Daisuke slashed at Tobirama, preventing him from moving. He did however manage to sidestep Momohime's attack so that it only grazed his left arm. He turned his head and, without any handsigns, he shot a medium sized fireball at the Nara. She and Orion leapt out of the way, the former to the left and the latter to the right.

"**Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu** (Pure Lightning Kunai Technique)!" Orion yelled, using the technique in both hands and threw all 6 square at Tobirama's back. Tobirama sensed Orion prepare the jutsu so grabbed Daisuke's sword by the guard and raised it, then kicked him in the ribs, which sent him flying while relieving him of his sword. The man turned around and used flames he generated with his sword to block the kunai. One made it through and hit his already injured left arm.

Daisuke ran up to Tobirama with vicious intent. He gave a roundhouse kick, aiming for Tobirama's head. Tobirama ducked and brought his left arm back. He shoved the heel of his hand into Daisuke's gut, or he would have had Orion not jabbed his elbow into his wound. He winced and delivered a mule kick to Orion's chest. The boy was forced back but stuck the landing. Daisuke jumped and brought his knee up in an attempt to knock a few of Tobirama's teeth out. Tobirama brought up the hilt of the sword to intercept the knee. Daisuke yelped in pain as his joint hit the metal. The black haired boy distanced himself from his sensei.

Momohime decided to give it a shot with a simultaneous **Kage Nui no Jutsu** (Shadow Sewing Technique) and **Kagemane **(Shadow Paralysis) hidden within it. He jumped back to avoid and would have gone farther had Orion not gotten in the way with duel lightning blades. He turned on his heel and swung with great strength against Orion's blades. Sparks flew as the blades grinded against one another. Momohime's shadow connected to Tobirama's and he froze. Daisuke decided to intrude on this moment by kicking his sword out of Tobirama's hand and into the air, and catching it cleanly.

"Ow! Daisuke when you hit him you hit me!" She yelled at her teammate.

"Sorry!" He yelled back.

Due to the distance between them Momohime could only keep her hold on Tobirama for a few seconds, and those seconds were now up.

At this stage in the battle, due to the immense amount of fire used, the frost had melted, making the ground very wet. Orion decided to use this to his advantage and slammed his hands into the ground. He quickly channelled a stream of lightning at Tobirama. An electrical charge went through his body, giving Momohime, who came much closer to her sensei, an opportunity to get close and wrap Tobirama in her shadows which in turn let Daisuke point his sword directly at Tobirama's neck.

"Excellent work kiddos. You, as a group, have the teamwork and combat capabilities to take down an ordinary jonin." He smiled with pride at his students. All three of the genin were panting with tiredness.

"It's all thanks to you Tobirama-sensei." Momohime said, deactivating her shadows.

"I like to think we're just naturally talented." Orion said with an arrogant smirk.

"Now now Orion-kun," Daisuke said. "I think Tobirama-sensei had a little bit of influence when it comes to our growth in strength." He then sealed his sword into the black fingerless glove on his left hand. It was a simple seal put onto it by the shopkeeper.

"I suppose he could have." The Uchiha reported.

"Enough of that now Orion-kun. In order to celebrate your competence how about I treat you all to dango. If we're lucky we might see the crazy snake lady, also known as Mitarashi Anko." Tobirama said.

"I can't go sensei," Orion said. "I promised my cousin I'd teach him a new jutsu today."

"I guess you can come with us next time Orion-kun." Momohime said. "I hope you and your cousin have fun."

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow guys." Orion said, waving to his team as they left.

After a few minutes of waiting, and some laps around the training field, Sasuke arrived in the training field. He was all bundled up in a hat, scarf, gloves and a thick winter jacket.

"You can't seem to handle the cold, can you Sasuke-kun." Orion remarked. "Off with all that winter wear, it'll get hot enough in a minute." Sasuke removed the said clothing.

"So how do we start with this?" He asked.

"The handsigns are as thus: Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger." He explained, showing each sign in turn, and then blowing multiple small fireballs from his mouth. "Sorry that they're a little small, my team just had a match against our sensei and I needed to use many chakra taxing jutsu. Anyway, mold your chakra in your chest like you would with the **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique), but instead of releasing it all at once in one big blast, you release it in multiple smaller blasts. The more adept you get with it the more fireballs you'll generate."

"Sounds simple enough." Sasuke said, making the handsigns and blowing 3 small fireballs from his mouth. They didn't go very fast and easily dispersed when they hit the ground. Sasuke looked disappointed at the result.

"Don't worry about that, in fact that was far better than my first attempt." Sasuke looked sceptical.

"Yeah right."

"Really, the first time it blew up in my face. Remember when I wore a hat really low for two months?"

"Yeah I remember."

"It was because I singed off my eyebrows." Orion admitted. Sasuke barely managed to stifle his laughs.

"Haru had the same reaction." The once eyebrowless boy said. "Keep on going you little turd!"

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

The winter festival had come. It was the 21st of December, the winter solstice and the high point of the festival. At midnight there would be a brilliant fireworks show. During the day there would be stalls selling food and others with games that offered prizes. The cold was taken care of by a seal put around the village that created warmth. It was made by the second Hokage Senju Tobirama. It was only brought out once a year and during the rest of the year it was being filled with chakra.

Orion and Sasuke were in traditional kimonos, as was the norm, and were walking to the centre of the village where most of the festivities took place. Orion's kimono was dark red with black outlines and a large Uchiha symbol on the back. Sasuke's kimono was black with red outlines and a slightly smaller Uchiha symbol on the back. His however had smaller symbols around the wrists, bottom hem and down the front.

The two were waved over by an enthusiastic Momohime in a dark green kimono with bamboo designs on one side, the outline of a howling wolf on the other and the symbol of the Nara clan on the back.

"Oh my Kami you're both so cute!" She said, pulling them both into a bone crushing hug.

"It's good to see you too Momohime-chan." Sasuke said, recovering from the exchange.

"Where's Daisuke?" Orion asked.

"He'll be here soon. He wants to make sure his mother is okay before he leaves." She answered.

"I have a friend who I said I'd meet here." Sasuke said. "There he is." Sasuke signalled his friend to come over. He had blonde spiky hair and 3 whisker marks on each cheek. He was wearing a luminous orange kimono with swirls all over it.

"Hey Dobe." Sasuke said.

"Hey Teme." Naruto responded.

"Guys this is-" Sasuke was interrupted.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to be Hokage! Dattebayo!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

"Yeah that." Sasuke said. "Naruto this is my cousin Orion and his teammate Nara Momo-" he was again interrupted as Momohime went right by him and looked wide eyed at Naruto.

"You," she said, looking directly down at Naruto, who had a sadness look on his face. "are the cutest person ever!" She pulled Naruto up into a bone crushing embrace and even spun a few times. She put him down and he looked rather disoriented.

"Th-thanks." He said, regaining his bearings.

"Hey guys." Daisuke said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. He was wearing a navy hakama over a black kimono. On the back of the hakama was the symbol for **Tetsu no Kuni **(Land if Iron). It was traditional samurai clothing. "How are things?"

"Relatively okay," Momohime replied. "now let's get our festival on!" She pumped her fist in the air.

The group of 5 spent the day playing games and eating junk food. There were many entertainers throughout the festival, including, but not limited to, fire jugglers, sword swallowers, strong men, acrobats, musicians, magicians and contortionists. To a shinobi these might seem rather mundane, but to civilians it was quite a spectacle.

Midnight finally came and the group gathered in a field behind the Hokage monument.

"That. Was. Fun. Dattebayo!" Naruto said, lying spread eagle on the grass. "That was the first festival I ever spent with friends. Usually I'd just be with Jiji all day."

"Who's 'Jiji'?" Momohime asked.

"He means Hokage-sama." Sasuke answered.

"Oh my how informal you are Naruto-kun." Momohime said with a giggle.

"Look the fireworks are starting!" Orion said.

The group looked up into the starry sky, and sure enough, the blackness exploded into a variety of beautiful colours. There were various oo's and aah's from the crowd down below and the various groups above the monument.

Orion looked around him, at the faces of the ones he cared for the most, Daisuke, Momohime and Sasuke, and then back up at the sky. He sighed in content and let himself completely relax.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Another 2 weeks passed and missions were going on as normal again. Team 2 had decided to do another C-rank mission, their 4th to be exact. After the fiasco that was their first C-rank they decided to try their hand at it again and thankfully they hadn't had a repeat of a similar incident.

The mission was to retrieve a set of scrolls from ** Shimo no Kuni **(Land of Frost)and bring them back to Konoha. **Shimo** **no Kuni **(Land of Frost) was in between **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) and **Kaminari no Kuni **(Land of Lightning). They went quietly through **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water), stopping to use their eerily lovely onsens, and went to the checkpoint where they would retrieve the scrolls.

"I really, really dislike it here." Tobirama said, referring to the cold temperature of **Shimo no Kuni **(Land of Frost).

"Suck it up sensei." Daisuke said.

"Look there's the checkpoint." Orion said. "You can stop complaining now."

They walked up to a brick building and walked inside they were greeted by 3 Shimogakure shinobi wearing blank porcelain masks. Before them, on a table, were three scrolls. They were blue with red outlines.

"These are the scrolls that we agreed to give you." The centre shinobi said. "Take them and leave." She finished sharply. Tobirama bowed lightly.

"We will." He said. "Thank you." He stepped forward and took the three scrolls. He, and his students, left the building. Once outside and a reasonable distance away, Tobirama stopped. He put the three scrolls on the ground. He made a cross sign with his fingers and three more Tobiramas appeared in a puff of smoke. They each then picked up scroll and jumped a considerable distance away.

"Sensei what-" Orion asked as the Tobirama clones came back. They dispelled and Tobirama picked up the scrolls and sealed them in separate seals on his flak jacket.

"I was checking to see if the scrolls were rigged with explosives. They are going straight to Hokage-sama after all, and it wouldn't be very good if you killed Hokage-sama now, would it Orion-kun." Tobirama said to his youngest student.

"I suppose it wouldn't." Orion said with a chuckle.

"Now," Tobirama said. "Onward to **Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water) and their heavenly onsens!" He said charismatically.

"YEAH!" All three genin cheered.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

"Haha." A voice laughed quietly.

"Hahahahaha." It says again, picking up in speed and volume.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!" The voice was emitting a creepy laugh now, making the servant kneeling before it break out into a cold sweat.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The voice let out a booming, macabre, dark bellow, making the servant cower in fear for his own life. "What wonderful news." The voice said sharply. "The sharingan will be in my possession by the days end!" The owner had a lustful look on his face, licking his his lips with an inhuman tongue.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Team 2 had left **Yu no Kuni** (Land of Hot Water) earlier that day and it was getting dark. They would be back at Konoha in a couple of hours. They were now south of **Ta no Kuni** (Land of Rice Fields). They were running along a road, Tobirama in the lead and the students trailing behind him. Suddenly Tobirama sensed something dark, a dark chakra that was coming in at a high speed. The ground suddenly began to shake violently.

"SCATTER!" Tobirama yelled, his team jumped away in different directions. Tobirama braced himself as a colossal dark brown snake erupted from the ground. He leapt backwards and bit his thumb, went through a series of handsigns and when he landed he slammed his hand on the ground. A giant komodo dragon appeared in a puff in smoke. It lashed its tongue out and wrapped around the snake. The snake bit down on the tongue and the lizard yelled in pain and retracted its appendage.

Tobirama, from atop his own summon, looked at the man on the snakes head.

"Orochimaru." Tobirama said with utter disgust and spite.

"And you must be Tobirama no Shakuton, am I right?" He asked rhetorically. "I've really been doing my research on you ever since I found out who you were sensei to." Orochimaru's smile broadened.

"I can guess who you're after if that was your reason for researching me." Tobirama said. _'Dammit dammit DAMMIT!' _Tobirama said in his head. _'Why the hell is this happening!? I can't take on Orochimaru, he's one of the 5 strongest leaf shinobi alive today, potentially the strongest. There's no way I can beat him, even with __**sennin modo **__(sage mode). The best I can hope for keep him occupied and give the kids a chance to escape.' _His train of thought was interrupted by Orochimaru.

"Are you trying to think of a way to escape? Or to, perhaps, let the children get away wish their lives?" Orochimaru laughed as Tobirama got frustrated look on his face. "I'm afraid I won't let that happen." Orochimaru then opened his mouth wide and a snake came out. The snake regurgitated a sword that looked like a double edged jian that Orochimaru caught.

"The **Kusanagi no Tsurugi** (Grass-Mowing Sword)." Tobirama said. "Said to be able to cut through anything." As Tobirama finished saying that the three genin arrived beside the giant lizard.

"Tobirama-sensei!"Momohime yelled up at her sensei. "What's going on? Who is that?"

"RUN! GET AWAY ALL OF YOU NOW!" Tobirama yelled, looking down at his students.

"We're not going to leave-" Orion said before he was interrupted.

"THAT'S AN ORDER!" Tobirama turned his head to look back at the snake sannin. He once again went through the handsigns for the **Kuchiyose no Jutsu **(Summoning Technique) and summoned two bearded dragons, a mangrove monitor, a gecko, a chameleon and a 4 metre long Black Spiny-tailed Iguana. "Please kiddos. Get back to the village as fast as you can."

"Sensei we-" Momohime tried to tell him. He paid her no heed.

"Tokario," Tobirama said, addressing the Black Spiny tailed Iguana. "take the hatchlings and get to the village as soon as possible."

"Yes Tobirama-san." The black reptile speedily slithered over to the children.

"Get on." He said.

"Sensei," Orion said. "You taught us to never abandon our comrades."

"Go. Now." He said quietly. "Or you'll all die." They still didn't show any sign of moving.

"Hahahahahahaha." Orochimaru chucked. "How heartfelt. It doesn't matter either way. By the end of the day I'll get what I came here for."

"As your superior I order all three of you to retreat to the village." Tobirama said. The genin looked reluctant but a look from their sensei made them compliant. They mounted the lizard, Orion in the front and Daisuke on the back.

"Don't worry kiddos, I'll see you soon." Tobirama looked the snake man dead in the eye. Tokario, the fastest of all lizards, began running at a faster pace than any human could run.

"I'm surprised that you didn't stop him from getting away."

"Hahahaha. Like I said, it doesn't matter. They won't make it in time. This battle won't take long at all." Orochimaru pointed his sword at Tobirama.

"Cheria-sama." Tobirama said to the gecko.

"Yes, I know." She once again latched herself onto Tobirama's back.

"ATTACK!" Tobirama yelled.

The 2 bearded dragons shot out their poisonous tongues out at Orochimaru. He swerved his malleable body out of the way of both tongues and used the sword to cut them both. He leapt from the snake towards Tobirama, who in turn leapt from his lizard to meet Orochimaru in the middle with a **Shakuton: Nami **(Scorch Release: Wave). The snake man was forced back but he landed with ease and was seemingly unaffected. He dispelled his giant summon and Tobirama his two bearded dragons. Tobirama stood atop the mangrove monitor and it charged at Orochimaru.

Tobirama shot a fireball at Orochimaru, knowing it wouldn't do anything substantial. It was fine as it was only meant to serve as a distraction as when Orochimaru emerged from the flames the lizard sunk its claws into his shoulders. Tobirama was about to impale his head with a Shakuton covered hand but Orochimaru's mouth opened at an inhumane girth. Another, slimy, Orochimaru emerged from the mouth and grabbed Tobirama's hand. Orochimaru opened his mouth, normally this time, well, as normal as normal can be when concerning Orochimaru, and a snake came out. The **Kusanagi no Tsurugi** (Grass-Mowing Sword) emerged from the snakes mouth and Orochimaru caught it. He was about to stab Tobirama in the face but he caught the blade of the sword 2 inches from his face. His sclera turned bright green and his iris' and pupil elongated into a black slitted pupil. Scales appeared under his eyes and his fingernails became claws. A few drops of blood dripped from the sword. **Sennin modo** (Sage Mode) did enhance the density of ones skin, but not enough to be completely impervious to the **Kusanagi no Tsurugi** (Grass Mowing Sword). However under normal circumstances he would've lost his fingers. Cheria disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tobirama released his hand from Orochimaru's grip and grabbed his wrist. He threw Orochimaru down the road. He flipped and grinded against the ground, he stopped himself and landed on all fours.

"You guys leave." He said to his remaining summons. "It's been great knowing and working with all of you, but this is goodbye."

"Let us help you Tobirama-kun," the gecko said. "With us you might win."

"Anything I summon he can counter." Tobirama responded. "Don't make me cancel the jutsu myself." He smirked and made a single handsign. "Goodbye." The remaining lizards puffed away in smoke. Tobirama watched as a large wave of snakes came at him, a wave originating from Orochimaru. He ran at them, waving his arm around him, creating a sphere of hot rotating wind around him. When he met the snakes he tore through them, the wind tearing any that came near him to shreds. He leapt from the wave and concentrated the sphere into his right hand, condensing it and increasing the speed and heat, so much so that it turned deep red and looked like a sold sphere.

"**Senpō: Kaze no reddohotto kyū** (Sage Art: Red Hot Sphere of Wind)!" Tobirama yelled, sending the sphere at an extremely high velocity at Orochimaru. He saw it coming and responded with;

"**Kuchiyose: Rashōmon** (Summoning: Rashōmon)!" A giant demonic looking gate sprouted up from the ground between Orochimaru and the jutsu directed at him. As soon as the jutsu connected it expanded greatly, engulfing the entirety of the gate, shredding it to billions of dust particles. The jutsu had expanded past the gate near Orochimaru, who had to act quickly to escape the blast radius. He ended up getting a few deep scratches on his arms, chest and face. There was now a large crater where the gate was.

"That was impressive." Orochimaru complimented as Tobirama landed in front of the crater.

_'I've enough chakra for two more of those.' _Tobirama thought. _'If I'm gonna die I might as well go all out.'_ With that Tobirama concentrated his chakra deeply before exclaiming;

"**KAIMON** (Gate of Opening)!" Tobirama felt his chakra increase drastically and his muscles felt lighter and stronger. He made handsigns finishing with crossing his fingers. Two Tobiramas appeared next to him. They ran at great speeds at Orochimaru and when they met him they engaged in a fierce taijutsu battle. Orochimaru cleanly and easily avoided the punches and kicks as the clones also avoided his sword slashes. The original Tobirama was preparing another of his red balls of death. Orochimaru was preoccupied so he realise another was prepared until the clones jumped away and another of those red spheres was in his face. He crossed his arms in front of him.

_'Dammit!' _He thought. He was engulfed by a maelstrom of hot wind. He was deeply lacerated and burned all over his body. When the attack settled there was yet another crater, and Orochimaru lay at the centre of that crater. He shakily stood up, blood pouring from his various wounds.

"That was far weaker than the last one." A Tobirama clone came before Orochimaru and was about to attack only for Orochimaru to, with a twitch of his fingers, impale it from behind with the **Kusanagi no Tsurugi** (Grass-Mowing Sword). A large gust of wind from the dispelled clone sent Orochimaru flying in the opposite direction and the sword toward the original Tobirama. The second clone retrieved the sword and ran at Orochimaru. Like before the man's mouth opened wide and it appeared that fingers from the inside were making their way out. A newly healed Orochimaru once again emerged ready to face the clone. The clone was a mite faster than Orochimaru expected. That was enough for it to be able to land a senjutsu enhanced punch into his gut. He was sent flying and the clone threw the sword at an extremely high velocity in the same direction. Orochimaru bent back at an inhumane angle to avoid the sword, which kept going down the road. The snake landed easily on his legs, though he did skid for a few metres before stopping completely. The second clone dispelled but there was nothing for its wind to affect. Meanwhile Tobirama was once again concentrating before exclaiming;

"**Kyūmon** (Gate of Healing)!" His chakra once again spiked dramatically. _'Crap! I'm at my absolute physical limit. Senjutsu this long and 2 __**Hachimon **__(8 Gates) alone would devastating on my body, but piling one on top of another is just asking be sore in the morning. Oh well, I guess it's good that I'm not gonna be around tomorrow.' _

While Tobirama was monologuing internally Orochimaru was preparing a jutsu of his own.

"I wasn't expecting to have to use this, but it appears that if I want to get this over with quickly then it's necessary." He clapped his hands together and declared; "**Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei** (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation)!" A wooden coffin rose from the ground with the kanji for fire princess on the lid. Tobirama jumped across the second crater, 15 metres away from Orochimaru. His reptilian eyes widened at what he saw.

"No, it can't be." He said, his voice trembling.

"It is." Orochimaru chuckled an evil chuckle. The lid fell forward. "You've lost." The figure stepped forward out of the coffin, which disappeared as she did so. Orochimaru walked up behind her and put a kunai with a red tag in her head. Her eyes opened to reveal dark grey sclera and red on black iris'.

"HOW DARE YOU! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!" Tobirama yelled with nothing but white hot rage. Red spheres appeared in both his hands. He shot one of them at Orochimaru but the reanimated woman jumped in front and before her a white wall of flames appeared. They quickly formed a sideways bowl to catch the blast and solidified to form a dense white crystal. The blast went off and the crystal was barely damaged, it was extremely scratched, but still in one piece. Tobirama was panting heavily. His eyes turned back to normal, the scales disappeared and his nails regressed to human again. The last sphere faltered in his hand but he maintained it.

"She's quite impressive isn't she?" Orochimaru said rhetorically. "She's one of the strongest Uchiha to have ever lived, second possibly to only Uchiha Madara himself."

"Damn you to hell you bastard!"

"It's a shame that I can't show you the full extent of her power. The **Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei** (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation) is still imperfect. However the power she has is enough to take you down." Orochimaru said, sporting a grin the whole time.

"Tobirama-kun, is that you?" The woman asked.

"Yes. It's been awhile, hasn't it." He responded with a sad smile. She formed a crystal sword in her hand and ran at him.

"How long had it been?" She asked as she slashed at Tobirama.

"About ten months."

"Did he survive?"

"He did." He also used a **Shakuton: Nami** (Scorch Release: Wave) to repel her. "In fact I'm his sensei."

"That's reassuring to hear. Thank you." She was undeterred and once again charged at Tobirama. He aimed the last sphere at her and let it loose. It was only half as strong as the last one but still strong enough to do damage. When the whirlwind resolved the was a crater but surrounding the woman was a large black skeleton. Her eyes glowed, forming a unique pattern **(read authors note at the end for description)**.

She ran at him again and he was prepared to counter. As he was about to form another sphere he felt great pain explode throughout his entire body. The boost opening the gates gave him evaporated and he was unable to move a muscle. The right hand of the skeleton grabbed him and squeezed him tight. He coughed up large amounts of blood.

"I'm sorry Tobirama-kun." She said with deep regret in her voice. "I can't control my actions."

"It's okay," he coughed up even more blood. "Kesaihime. I hold no grudge." His thoughts went to his students, then his sister. _'Momohime, Daisuke, Orion, Yukino, I'm sorry. I'm sorry sister, that I'm leaving you alone. You've always been there for me, protected me and picked me up when I fell down. The least I could've done was to live long enough to repay you. I'm a real lousy brother. Still I enjoyed the time we had together. Kids I hope you made it, at least let my death have given you enough time to-' _He didn't get to finish his final thoughts as Orochimaru appeared behind him, and used his blade separate Tobirama's head from his neck. A fountain of blood spewed from the body, wetting the skeleton that surrounded Kesaihime.

"You heartless bastard!" She yelled. "How could you-"

"That's enough from you." With a flick of Orochimaru's wrist Kesaihime went quiet, the skeleton faded, the coffin emerged from the ground and she was forced into it. The lid slammed shut and the coffin disappeared. When it did all crystal Kesaihime created crumbled to dust. Tobirama's body landed with a thud.

"That required more effort than I thought it would." Orochimaru went through a sequence of handsigns and slammed his palm on the ground. Two snaked were summoned, one the height of a human and another was a story tall. "Swallow the corpse for me to use later." He told the smaller snake. He picked up Tobirama's head and jumped onto the head of the larger snake. "Follow the scent." He hissed. The snake slithered at an extremely fast asked through the forest, destroying any foliage in its path.

* * *

**With Orion, Daisuke and Momohime**

The lizard that was carrying the three genin suddenly disappeared from underneath them. They landed in a heap on the ground.

"Why did he disappear?" Momohime asked.

"You don't think that sensei-" Orion asked.

"No! We can't think like that!" Daisuke said. "Let's carry out his orders and return to the village."

"You're right." Orion said. "Let's go." The three started running the direction the were headed. After a few minutes they heard loud noises coming from the forest to their right.

"Stop!" Daisuke said. The noise stopped and something was thrown from the forest in front of them. It was dark so they couldn't immediately make it out. To remedy that Daisuke unsealed his sword and lit it aflame. He immediately regretted it as what was thrown in front of them was the disembodied head of Kurawara Tobirama. They each responded differently. Daisuke was frozen with shock, Orion fell to his knees and his eyes widened with disbelief, and Momohime threw up her dinner. They heard a dark chuckle come from where the head was thrown. Orochimaru emerged from the trees and leaned against one as the genin took in the fact that their sensei was dead.

Orochimaru laughed his signature dark laugh, garnering the attention of the genin. Daisuke acted first, creating flames more intense than ever before. He sent a massive arc of flames at Orochimaru, who easily sidestepped it. Daisuke ran up to Orochimaru, swinging hard with both hands. Orochimaru brought up his **Kusanagi no Tsurugi** (Grass-Mowing Sword) to block. The flames began spreading everywhere as Daisuke delivered multiple slashes, Orochimaru blocked them all easily. The forest behind them began to catch fire. Orochimaru parried Daisuke and hit the sword with great force, smashing it. He kicked Daisuke away, just in time to avoid a blast of lightning from Orion. Orochimaru smiled when he saw Orion's 2 tomoed sharingan flash. Momohime sent her shadows while Orion formed a **Raiton: Yaiba **(Lightning Release: Blade). Orion leapt at him while the shadows nearly reached him. He smirked as he sent many snakes from his sleeve at Momohime, grabbing her and pulling her intercept Orion's attack.

Orion's eyes widened as he came face to face with Momohime. He was unable to move mid-air or cancel the jutsu, only able to feel his left hand plunge into Momohime's chest. They fell to the ground, landing on their knees. Momohime leaned forward, making Orion's hand come out the other side of her back. Her forehead touched his and she whispered;

"Ori-kun."

"Momo-chan." He whispered weekly, feeling Momohime's warm blood leak onto him. Her eyes, once full of life were now dark and empty. Orion's eyes meanwhile, took on an all new shape of red and black. **(Read authors note at the end for description)**

Orochimaru made a ram handsign, his neck extended greatly, darting for Orion. Orochimaru's fangs sunk into Orion's left hand, the one sticking out Momohime's back. Orochimaru's neck retracted back to his body. Daisuke jumped at Orochimaru again. The snake sannin picked up the sword the stuck into the ground and slashed Daisuke deeply in the abdomen and bashed him in the head with the hilt.

"You will want power, and when you do, you will come to me." He chucked again. "Until we meet again, Uchiha Orion." Orochimaru disappeared into the foliage of the blazing forest. Orion, still in a state of shock, only registered anything else when immense pain began coursing its way through his body, attacking his chakra network. A black tri tomo appeared on the back of his left hand, near the puncture wound Orochimaru left. Orion screamed in pain and blacked out.

********BREAK********

"Hurry this way!" A Konoha shinobi yelled. "Towards the fire!" A team had been sent to investigate a large forest fire that had broken out a few miles from Konoha.

"Oh Kami." Another shinobi uttered as they stumbled upon the sight of three young shinobi who were definitely not okay.

"Check them." The apparent captain said. "Send the rest of the squad to put out the fire."

"This one here is alive." A kunoichi said, referring to Daisuke. "I'll administrate medical treatment now."

"Over here!" A shinobi said. "Dammit, this is bad." He said. "Hold him down so I can lift the girl off."

"She's undoubtedly dead. What about him?" The shinobi asked. The other felt Orion's pulse.

"Alive." He responded. "He's Uchiha Orion, meaning this is Kurawara Tobirama's squad, but where is he?"

"*gasp*" A young shinobi gasped. "He's here." He keeled down and looked at the severed head of Tobirama.

"Who could've possibly done this? Tobirama-senpai was the strongest jonin in the village." The kunoichi asked.

"I don't know but they must have been very powerful." The captain said. "Let's get them back to the village as fast as possible."

* * *

**Yup, that happened. I'll admit I am going to miss writing Tobirama and Momohime but Daisuke will **

**appear again in the story. **

**Kesaihime's Mangekyou:**

**The background is black while the design is red. It is a plus sign and at the end of each line (touching the edge) is a red circle. At the intersection there is a red circle. So far it is just red on top of a black background. There are 5 smaller black circles, one in the middle of the intersection and one in each circle at the edge of the plus.**

**Orion's Mangekyou:**

**It is black design on a red background. Imagine 2 hourglasses, one perfectly horizontal and the other perfectly vertical. The hourglasses intersect at the centre point of the red background. At the intersection there is a black circle with a smaller red circle in it.**

**I hope y'all can interpret these descriptions easily, if not I'll try and find a way to put a picture of them online. By the way, there is foreshadowing in this chapter about future events to take place in the story.**

**Until next time, I bid you all adieu.**


	12. The Funeral

**Published: 9th July 2015**

**Sorry for the wait for this one but I've been very distracted recently, teenage drama and all. Basically my 2 two best friends were odd with each other, he was saying some ignorant things about gay people, saying things that we're too young to know for certain (like me my other best friend is gay) and she got pissed at him cos it is rather ignorant BS. All is fine now, he apologised and we're still in shock over it. **

**Before we start I'd like to thank Maail99 and NightlyRowenTree for being my most consistent reviewers. Like I said at the end of the last chapter I'm gonna miss writing Tobirama and Momohime. I really liked the fight I wrote between Tobirama and Orochimaru. I feel as if it was a good send off for him.**

**On with the story.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Funeral**

* * *

Orion was asleep on a hospital bed, having been brought there the night before. He was breaking out in a cold sweat, and was whimpering. Two people were standing over his bed, one known as Shinobi no Kami and the other Shinobi no Yami.

"This is very troubling Hiruzen, very troubling indeed." Danzo said.

"Yes it is. The fact that Orochimaru has marked Orion with his curse mark is very concerning." He responded.

"We need to find a way to contain the mark soon." Danzo said sharply. "However the only lead we have is Anko's mark, but I'm positive that he improved it in all this time. Also the fact that Jiraiya, our seal master, is out of the village makes matters worse!"

"Your point being?" Hiruzen said, taking a puff of his pipe.

"My point being one I have constantly brought up is the fact that you should have killed Orochimaru when you had the chance." Danzo said. _'Although I can't say that that decision hasn't benefited me at some point.' _He thought, thinking of his right arm and the **Mokuton **(Wood Release) user in Root. The Hokage simply looked down at Orion, saying nothing. The boy began to stir and thrash lightly.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Orion screamed. An ominous dark chakra emitted from the boy and black marks began moving up his left arm and across his face. He looked at the the two across from him with his three tomoed red eyes. He stood on the bed and with a yell he charged at the Hokage with his left fist. The aged man easily caught the fist and, faster than even the sharingan could follow, snapped the blade of his hand against Orion's neck. The boy slumped forward and Hiruzen caught him. He lay him down on the bed again. The marks regressed back into the curse mark on Orion's hand.

"It's apparent that the mark is influencing the boy the point that he isn't even aware of his surroundings." Hiruzen commented. Danzo started making his way out of the room.

"He should be sedated and restrained until we can be sure he isn't a danger to himself and those around him." The heavily bandaged man said as walked out the door. The Hokage grit his teeth and a crack resounded throughout the room. He looked to his hand and saw that he had squeezed his pipe so hard that it broke.

"Damn you Orochimaru!"

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

The next day things weren't much better. Hiruzen was once again in the hospital room. The boys hands were restrained to the bed and 2 IVs were hooked into his right arm, one to keep him sedated and the other to give him nutrients. The marks had made their way across the entire left side of his body and stayed there, even when he was unconscious.

The Hokage was studying the marks on Orion's arm.

"You asked for me Hokage-sama?" A young woman said as she entered the room.

"Yes Anko-chan, I did." Sarutobi took a puff of his new pipe. "I want your analysis on these."

"Analysis on wha- _*gasp*_." She said as she saw the curse marks on the boy. Her hand unconsciously went to mark on the back of her neck. "That bastard!"

"Yes, we've established that. Now for your analysis." Anko looked at the marks with raw disdain, and rightfully so.

"It's stage one of the curse mark that Orochimaru gives to his most promising subordinates. Why he'd give it to Orion I have no idea. Another thing to note is that I've never seen the mark behave this way before. The mark is meant to feed off of the users will, it shouldn't be active while he's unconscious."

"Perhaps he's hoping Orion will go to him for power. Orochimaru is obsessed with immortality and learning every jutsu known to man." The Hokage said.

"And you can't say that the sharingan wouldn't help with that." Anko replied.

"Indeed." Hiruzen puffed his pipe.

"Should you really be doing that in here Hokage-sama?" Anko asked, referring to the pipe.

"No, I shouldn't." He puffed it again. "What are the characteristics that come with the curse mark?"

"As you can see the initial stage of the mark spreads these markings across the body. The mark is meant to inject senjutsu chakra into the wearer. At its second stage it induces a bodily transformation that vastly incereased the users power."

"Did you ever attain this stage?" Sarutobi asked.

"No. The curse mark he gave me was first generation. It was weak and not very powerful, not to mention unstable. There is only a one in ten chance that anyone given the mark will survive. It's a miracle that he's even breathing."

"Is there any way to contain or to lessen its influence?"

"Not that I know of. If I did I would have used it long ago, though like I said mine is a first generation, a prototype if anything. Besides after neglecting it for so long it had gone dormant."

"Well then, I guess all we can do now is wait for Jiraiya to-" he was interrupted by a yell.

"RRAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Orion thrashed on the bed, resisting against the bonds. The marks glowed dark purple but as well as that Orion's right eye started bleeding as a pattern of black and red formed in it. Oddly it only formed in the right eye and his left eye stayed normal.

Anko felt her mark pulse faintly. Doctors and nurses came running into the room.

"Step back please." A nurse said to Anko and Sarutobi.

"Hold him down!" The doctor said. The nurses stopped Orion from thrashing as the doctor adjusted the IV to increase the flow of the sedation. Before he could be knocked out Orion ripped his left arm from restraints and aimed to rip out the doctors throat. The Hokage quickly intervened, grabbing Orion's wrist. His eyes met Orion's and the elder man saw something that was not the boy he knew. Orion's eyes held much malice, in both his ordinary black and bleeding red. The room suddenly went still as killing intent began leaking from the boy. The doctor and nurses stayed dead still and began sweating. The two shinobi however were unaffected, having been exposed to more potent in the past.

The Hokage simply started the boy down.

"As you were doctor." Hiruzen said, not breaking his gaze with Orion. The doctor snapped out of his stupor and adjusted the IV to increase the flow of sedation. Orion let out a feral growl as his eyelids dropped. He soon fell unconscious and the Hokage lay him down again.

"Now, as I was saying," Sarutobi said, looking back to Anko. "we'll have to wait for Jiraiya to come back and investigate the mark in order to write a repressing seal. I believe he has already started the process, using your mark as a starting point."

"Do you think he'll be able to remove it completely?" Anko asked with a little bit of hope in her voice, deep deep within.

"I can't say, though it seems unlikely. When he first inspected yours he said it was unlike anything he had ever seen, and that it was comparable to the 8 trigrams utilised by the Shinigami himself." Sarutobi answered.

"I see." She said. "Thank you Hokage-sama." She bowed and left the room. The doctors retied the restraints and a nurse began cleaning Orion's face of the blood, as well as replacing the blood soaked pillow case.

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Two days later Jiraiya had come back to the village, as per the Hokage's orders, and was inspecting Orion's curse mark.

"He's definitely improved it since last time." Jiraiya commented. "However I have been working on a seal specifically designed to repress Orochimaru's power. All I need is some time and I'll be able to complete it."

"Very good Jiraiya. Also, there's something else I want to talk to you about, something very important." The Hokage said, putting on a very serious tone.

"Oh really well I'm uh-" he began to get very flustered. "I'm very busy with something at the moment." He turned around, pushed his index fingers together, put on a perverted grin, blushed and chuckled.

"Jiraiya!" Hiruzen said, in a frustrated drawn out tone. "We both know that I'm getting old and that soon I won't be able to beat Orochimaru. The village needs a leader that can protect it from every threat. You are the only loyal leaf shinobi that can defeat Orochimaru." Jiraiya sighed.

"Look, we both know that I'm not a suitable candidate to be-" Jiraiya was added to the list of people interrupted by Orion's yells.

"RRRRRAAAAHHHHHHH!" He yelled once more as the marks glowed dark purple and his right eye once again started bleeding as a red and black shape formed in it. The bindings were tested as Orion decided to try and claw off Jiraiya's face. The reinforced bindings stopped him though. Hiruzen walked over to the IV and increased the flow of sedation. Orion's eyes slowly closed as he fell back into forced sleep.

"Does that happen often?" Jiraiya asked.

"In the last two days it has happened 5 times. Each time he attempts to maim whoever's closest to him. According to Anko this is very strange behaviour." Sarutobi answered.

"And what's with the sharingan? Should the Mangekyou be forcing itself out like that? Wait, before you answer that I want to know how he got the Mangekyou in the first place?"

"I wasn't there but according to the team that found him he had impaled and killed his teammate. As well as that we found the severed head of his sensei, Kurawara Tobirama, at the site."

"Damn that Orochimaru! And why is the Mangekyou forcing itself out?"

"That I cannot answer. The Uchiha were very secretive about their eyes. If this is abnormal we have no way of knowing." Jiraiya sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"This is a very complicated situation." Jiraiya looked at the whimpering boy on the bed. "Tomorrow I'll put the seal over the mark." There was a gentle knock on the door and it slowly opened to reveal a woman with long orange hair.

"Yukino-chan." The Hokage said with mild surprise.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, I just wanted to see him." She said in a weak quiet voice. She walked slowly over the bed and her bloodshot eyes widened with shock. She put her hand over her mouth as a few tears fell from her eyes. "W-w-why is there blood coming from his eye?" Both men looked reluctant to answer but Jiraiya decided to do so.

"The Mangekyou sharingan is forcing itself to be active." Yukino looked weak in the knees as the blood drained from her face. She was about to collapse to her knees but Jiraiya put his arm around her shoulders.

"Kesaihime." She whispered under her breath. "I'm so sorry." Orion began stirring lightly, moving his head side to side. Yukino regained her bearings and walked to Orion's bedside. She cupped his cheek, his one that was covered in marks. He stopped stirring and was visibly calmer. She leaned in, brushed his hair away and kissed his forehead.

"I'm sorry." She whispered again. She stood up, turned to the Hokage, bowed and left silently.

"That was Kurawara Yukino, wasn't it?" Jiraiya asked.

"It was." Sarutobi answered.

"She must be going through hell right now, considering what happened to her team, as well as losing her younger brother." Jiraiya said. "I'm going to go prepare the seal for tomorrow. See you then." Jiraiya left the hospital room.

Sarutobi stayed behind for a few minutes, contemplating the situation, before deciding to go back to his office. He was dreading the vast amount of paperwork that would have piled up while he was spending time in the hospital.

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********BREAK********

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The next day Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Orion and the Hokage's personal squad of ANBU were in a special room underneath the hospital. The room was constructed specifically for sealings. Orion was barely conscious on the ground. He was on his back shirtless, and straight as a board, except for his left arm, which was out perpendicular to his body. The black marks still remained on the entire left side of his body.

On the ground, around Orion, were two circles, one inside the other. Around the circumference of the circles kunai were embedded in the ground at equal intervals. As well as that red characters surrounded the boy, each curved line congregating to form a circle around the original position of the curse mark.

"This fuinjutsu is known as the **Fūja Hōin** (Evil Sealing Method), I designed it to with the intention of repressing Orochimaru's power. However I have adjusted the formula to work with a wide range of things. When I apply it its effectiveness will depend on Orion's will to not use the mark. The seal should contain it and allow Orion to regain consciousness." Jiraiya explained. He stood next to Orion and went through a vast sequence of handsigns and when he finished he quickly put his right hand on top of Orion's. The red characters began to contract into the circle on Orion's hand. The boy began to writhe on the ground, screaming in absolute agony. The black marks began to glow red and were being pulled towards the circle on Orion's hand. They were however resisting, and were trying to stay on Orion's body. Unsurprisingly his right eye began bleeding, more profusely than before, as the Mangekyou formed. His eye looked visibly strained as the veins in it became more pronounced. The regular 3 tomoed sharingan in his left eye began to flicker on and off as the black marks began to convulse back and forth from left pectoral down. A thin stream of blood began dripping from his left eye. Suddenly he went silent, his back arched and his mouth agape. As well as that the red characters stopped moving, however they were twitching, as if they wanted to move.

"Dammit!" Jiraiya grunted, putting both of his hands on top of Orion's, trying to force the seal to completion. Suddenly Orion's left eye started bleeding just as profusely as the right as the Mangekyou formed in it too. Orion let out another loud scream of agony.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" He yelled as the black curse marks rushed back to their original position. The red characters followed closely, forming a circle around the mitsudomoe that was the curse mark. Orion's eyes stopped bleeding and the sharingan deactivated. His eyes closed as he once again fell into unconsciousness. Jiraiya stood up straight, panting and sweating slightly.

"That was more of an ordeal than it should have been, but we got there." Jiraiya picked the boy up his arms. "He just needs to rest for a couple of days and he'll be fine." He, along with the Hokage and his ANBU guard walked up a flight of stairs out of the room. There was a gurney waiting for him and Jiraiya placed Orion on it.

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********BREAK********

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Two days later Orion was just waking up. He opened his eyes, the usual black this time, and looked around. He sat up but immediately regretted it as his head felt like was being beaten with a pair of sledgehammers. The curtain around his bed was pulled back by nurse pulled back the curtain to show her perky face.

"It's nice to see that you're awake." She said with enthusiasm. Orion simply shot her a glare of annoyance and she sweatdropped. He opened his mouth to speak but only raspy sounds came out.

"You must be thirsty." The nurse said. "Hold on while I get you some water." She left the room momentarily and came back with a glass of water. She held it out to Orion who didn't acknowledge her and just stared into space. She put the glass on the bedside table and left the room again. Orion groaned as he brought his left hand to his forehead. He felt that it was bandaged. He looked at his hand with a confused look before his eyes widened in realisation. He brought his right hand to his left and grasped the bandages. He closed his eyes and tore away the bandages. The opened his eyes and saw what he hoped he wouldn't. The black marks on the back of his hand said one thing, and that one thing made him jump off the bed and collapse to his knees. He crawled over to the nearby bin and started heaving and coughing into it. Nothing came out as he hadn't eaten anything solid in 5 days, but feeling of vomiting was there.

He sat back a little and looked at his hand. He was shaking all over, the full memories of what happened just dawning on him.

"Momohime." He whispered, the image of her dying face as his hand went through her chest appearing in his head. "Sensei." The image of Tobirama's head rolling out in front him coming next. "Daisuke." The memory of his friend getting cut down came back. He grasped his head with both hands as his breathing became erratic. He eyes began to water, the full story having come back to him.

"He's woken up Hokage-sama." The nurse said as she and the said man entered the room. They walked past the curtain to see Orion on the ground, seemingly hyperventilating. The nurse quickly crouched down to his level but she was pushed away by the boy. He shakily stood on his feet, his chest heaving heavily. He stumbled and put his hand on the wall for balance. He turned his head and looked at the Hokage.

"Wha-what happened?" He asked.

"Orion-kun you need-" the Hokage started to stay.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" Orion asked with vehemence. The Hokage sighed but decided to be blunt with the boy.

"Your team was attacked, by a former Konoha shinobi known as Orochimaru. He killed Kurawara Tobirama and Nara Momohime." Sarutobi explained.

"You're wrong." Orion said. Hiruzen simply raised an eyebrow and looked at the boy. He was about to ask before Orion started talking again. "I killed Momohime." His voice cracked as he said that.

"That isn't true." Sarutobi handed his pipe to the nurse and gestured for her to leave. She bowed and did so. He got down on one knee and put his hands on Orion's shoulders. "Orochimaru is a _very _dangerous man. The deaths are his fault and his fault alone. Do not blame yourse-" he stopped talking as Orion simply brought up his left hand, showing his curse mark to the Hokage.

"He only came after my team because I was part of it, to give me this." Hiruzen opened his mouth to respond but Orion didn't give him a chance. "I could hear while I was, for lack of a better term, asleep. I heard parts of your conversation with Mitarashi Anko. I know Orochimaru chose me because of my eyes." He looked the Hokage dead in the eye. "It _is _my fault." Orion brushed the Hokage's hands off of his shoulders and sat back on his bed. Hiruzen sighed once again and spoke again.

"Momohime's funeral is later this afternoon. I will have suitable clothing brought here from your house." The Hokage began to walk out of the room. "I will attend the funeral with you."

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********BREAK********

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Later Orion was still in the hospital. He was wearing all black, a t-shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back and black pants that ended mid shin. He also decided to wear his headband around his right arm because if anything even touched his head it began to hurt. He heard a knock on the door so he went to open it. It was the person he expected it to; the Hokage. He wore a blank expression on his face as he walked next the man as he walked alongside him out of the hospital and into the bright sunlight, reflecting Momohime's bright personality.

As they walked through the village the Hokage was bowed to greeted multiple times. Each time he returned the gesture. Orion thought that he was acknowledged himself a couple of times but he was currently ignoring the world around him. They arrived at the graveyard in due time. It was currently occupied by the majority of the Nara clan and many others.

The Hokage was allowed to the forefront of the crowd, near the clan head, his wife, the clan heir and the parents of Momohime. As well as that Yūhi Kurenai and Daisuke was standing there, the later with his mother and uncle. Orion stood next to the man he knew to be Daisuke's uncle. He heard the sobbing of many people, but he didn't feel it coming to him. On Momohime's grave was a large picture of her, smiling brightly. In front of the grave was a bouquet of white flowers, soon to be surrounded by many more individual ones. Said flowers were soon passed around and those who had them began to bring them up. The first to deliver them were her parents, both of whom were crying heavily. The woman began sobbing even harder and threw herself into her husband's chest. He embraced her tightly.

The others each placed the white flowers on the grave until it finally came to be Orion's turn. He slowly walked up to grave, keeled down and placed his flower with the rest. As he stood up again he looked right at the picture of Momohime. He suddenly began to see Momohime's face as the light was leaving her eyes, the blood dripping from her mouth as he killed her. Orion felt his lower lip trembling, his stoic visage coming apart. He started crying silently, the feelings of loss he experienced after the massacre coming rushing back in one big heap. This time, however, it felt much much worse because he knew that his loved ones were dead thanks to him.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

He slowly made his way back to where he was standing. He grasped his head again as it started hurting again, though it wasn't nearly as intense as before.

After everyone who was going to had placed their flowers the mourners began to make their way home. After a little more than 20 people were left. Orion sauntered over to Momohime's parents and looked at the ground. He dropped to his hands and knees and touched his forehead to the ground.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm sorry." He said louder. "I'm so sorry." They simply looked at him with blank looks. The father simply closed his eyes and shook his head. He simply turned around and walked away. His wife looked at Orion and followed her husband. Orion stayed on the ground, waiting for nothing. The Hokage keeled down next to the boy.

"Orion-kun." He said, about to put his hand on Orion's back. He didn't get the chance as Orion stood up, ignoring him, and began walking out of the cemetery. He turned his head and his eyes met Daisuke's. The older boy looked him in the eye before quickly averting his gaze.

Orion continued walking, through the streets of Konoha, then the nearly empty Uchiha compound until he reached his house. He entered and shut the door. He walked into the kitchen and was startled when he heard something, a jingleing sound, down the hall.

"Who's there?" Orion asked, turning to the noise with his tri tomoe eyes. He winced in pain but kept them active anyway.

"It is such a tragedy," the voice drawled. "for this to happen." The owner of the voice stepped forward, showing himself to Orion. Orion recognised him as the man who graduated his team, and also was there when they received their first C-rank.

"What are you doing in my house, Tsuchi-san?" Orion said angrily.

"I simply have a proposition for you," a sly smile. "after all, you do want power don't you. With Tobirama-san gone you need someone to teach you, right?"

"What could you offer me that would be as good as Tobirama-sensei?" Orion asked with a venomous tone.

"No no not me Orion-kun," Tsuchi said with a fake tone of humility. "I mean my Lord and _the _greatest shinobi alive today; Orochimaru-sama," Orion's eyes widened in anger as soon as heard that name. "or as you'd probably know him as the man who gave you that mark. That mark has great potential within it, able to grant you power beyond anything you imagine."

"Why the hell would I join him!? After everything he did why shouldn't I try to kill him!?"

"Now now Orion-kun, who's fault is it really that they are dead hm? They were just casualties that occurred because they got in between Orochimaru-sama and you."

Orion had a conflicted look on his face, as if his brain was running a mile a minute. _'He's right.'_ Orion thought, his breathing quickening. _It's thanks to me that they were killed.' _

"Also, Orion-kun, if you didn't accept this offer," Tsuchi grinned mid-sentence. "wouldn't their deaths be in vain hm? Wouldn't they have died for nothing? Make it so that their deaths will mean something." Orion had broken out in a sweat as Tsuchi continued his monologue. "It's just something to think about." With that Tsuchi turned his back. "I'll be back in one week from tonight for your answer." The jingle played again and Tsuchi began to disappear. "Until then kiddo." His voice echoed, his presence completely gone. Orion fell to his hands and knees, still rapidly breathing.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" He yelled, pounding his fist into the ground. He inhaled and exhaled heavily multiple times as he dug his nails into the floorboards beneath him. "Dammit it all." He whispered to himself. "DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!"

* * *

**Dun dun dun. So anyway I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter, the next one should be out before the end of the month. It'll basically be Orion resolving things with the people he'll be leaving behind, as well as contemplating the pros and cons of leaving. If you could all do me a favour and tell me how my writing is that'd be great. I'm self conscious that my writing style is, for lack of a better term, wooden. Anyway, until next time.**

**I bid you adieu.**


	13. The Departure

**Published: 5th August 2015**

**Sorry for the wait for this chapter, there was a couple of reasons. **

**Firstly, I was designing and uploading a lot of Mangekyou Sharingans to Deviantart, I used the sketchpad app which allows you to upload whatever you have straight to Deviantart but for some reason they don't appear in your gallery. After that I had to go the website and upload everything again, as well as putting my story on the website.**

**Secondly, I had writers block. I got over it.**

**Thirdly, I was a little butthurt that I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter.**

**I changed my name if you didn't notice, it used to be JohnyGhostFace but I changed it to Uchiha Orion.**

**I changed the name of the last chapter to fit it more because I didn't cover what I thought I would. If anyone wants to see what the Mangekyou Sharingan I designed look like go to my profile and follow the link to my deviantart page. I also designed many other Mangekyou Sharingan, if anyone wants to use one of them you only have to comment on it. I put my story up there as well.**

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**Chapter 13: The Departure**

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"KUROKO!" Two young women of about 18 years yelled, one with dark brown hair, the other with ginger. They were on the edge of a cliff, cornered by about 20 shinobi wearing Iwagakure headbands. The aforementioned 'Kuroko' was currently being restrained by an Iwagakure shinobi and had a kunai knife held to his throat. He, like the 2 young women, was about 18 years of age and had blonde shoulder length hair and green eyes.

"Give us the scroll girls and your friend will go free." One of the Iwagakure shinobi said.

"Don't give it to them!" Kuroko said.

"Quiet you!" The shinobi restraining Kuroko said, pressing the kunai to his throat and drawing a small amount of blood.

The brown haired girl looked around at her surroundings, assessing the situation and trying to come up with a solution. She sighed a frustrated sigh before saying;

"Alright, we'll give it to you."

"What!?" Her teammate said. "You can't-" She stopped speaking when the other held up her hand to silence her.

"Yukino," She said coldly. "She glanced to the side with her red sharingan eyes and then held out her hand. "give me the scroll. Now." Yukino reluctantly took the scroll out of a pouch on her hip and held it out. She paused for a second before placing the scroll in her teammates hand.

"I hope you know what you're doing Kesaihime." Yukino said.

"We meet in the middle." Kesaihime said. "And don't try anything."

"Of course." The Iwagakure leader said. She then gestured to the shinobi restraining Kuroko to follow her to meet Kesaihime. The two sides walked towards each other until they were only 3 metres apart.

"Give us the scroll." The Iwagakure leader said. Kesaihime walked forward, holding the scroll in front of her.

Discretely she scraped the nail of her thumb against her index finger, creating a small flame. She winked at Kuroko before setting the scroll completely aflame and then pouncing at the Iwagakure leader, pushing the scroll into her face and burning her eyes. In an instant she was in front of Kuroko and his captor. Before he could do anything Kesaihime grabbed the man's hand, stopping him from slicing Kuroko's throat. She pried the man's hand from her friend's throat and delivered a quick turning kick to his ribs, breaking a few. Kuroko used this opportunity to escape and then began running to Yukino's side. Before he could make it though, a large explosion engulfed the battlefield, blinding everyone with a bright, white light.

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********BREAK********

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Yukino woke up with a start, sitting up in her bed. She had broken out in a cold during the dream, or nightmare, and was wide eyed and shivering. She ran her hand over her forehead, wiping away the sweat. She got up out of her bed and walked slowly to the bathroom. She turned on the tap to the sink and splashed cold water onto her face. She gripped the edge the sink with both hands and looked at the mirror, into her own eyes, noticing the bags under her bloodshot eyes and her paler than usual skin. She ran her hand across the scar that went around her neck, its origins haunting her.

"Get a grip Yukino!" She said to herself. "You need to be stronger than this." She walked out of the bathroom and went over and sat on her bed. She glanced at the silver urn on her bedside table. She took it and held it in both hands, looking at it unrelentingly. She clutched it to her chest and exhaled loudly. "Dammit Tobirama," She said aloud. "why'd you have to go and die on me?" A single, final tear slid down her cheek. She smiled and kissed the top of the urn and placed it back on the bedside table. Yukino got a unwavering look in her green eyes. "It's about time I get serious again."

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********BREAK********

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Uchiha Orion was lying on his back, on his bed, with a desolate look on his face. He had his hands intertwined on his chest and was breathing in and out slowly. He swung his legs of the bed and stood up. He then undressed and went in for a shower. After he showered he went back to his room and redressed. He started by putting on plain white boxer shorts and a mesh undershirt. He put on his new black 3 quarter pants, these ones had 4 pouches built in. Two were at each hip and the other two were just above the knees. He put on a thick black zip-up vest with dark red outlines and trimmings. It also had the Uchiha symbol on the back. He put on his thin platinum weights, one on each forearm and shin. He decided to wrap white bandage around the weights on his arms. He put on his black shinobi sandals, as well as a metal plated navy glove on his left hand. He picked up his hitai-ate and looked at it. He could barely see his reflection as he had neglected to clean it for quite some time. He put it on a shelf before opening one of his drawers and filling all of his pouches with kunai, shuriken, ninja wire, smoke pellets, soldier pills and paper bombs.

He went through his drawers and found a generic round pouch, one for holding shuriken. He put eight shuriken in it and then put the pouch in a new back pack he had bought recently. He walked downstairs and then out of his house. He breathed in the fresh air before activating his sharingan. He scanned the area, looking for any other presence, anything there that wasn't supposed to be. He saw nothing, only a ginger cat, so he assumed that the Hokage had decided that he no longer needed to have ANBU surveillance 24/7. He deactivated his eyes and began making his way to the Uchiha's underground storage unit. It was what contained the clans vast array of information and jutsu. It also contained many of the sharingan's secrets.

He shortly arrived at the entrance of the unit. It was at the western most point of the compound. The exterior was a small enough but elegant temple. In fact there was one at the southern most point of the compound called the Naka shrine. Orion had already visited there, and had seen what he could. He couldn't make out much of what was on that tablet when he saw it. He had actually only found out about it because Sasuke had told him about it. Apparently Itachi told _him _about it.

He entered the temple and when he had made it far enough inside he performed a sequence of handsigns, finishing with a clap. A large rectangular stone barrier rose from the floor until it gently hit the ceiling. Orion then made his way down the now accessible steps. The room he walked into had rows and rows of shelves, each holding many many scrolls and books that contained the vast wealth of knowledge of the Uchiha clan. He stood at the end of an aisle that contained dozens of scrolls on katon jutsu. He put his back pack on the ground and opened it. He took out a plain white scroll and unravelled it slightly. He placed it on the floor and pushed it so that it unravelled all the way down the aisle. The scroll had many circles, for the purpose of sealing, at regular distances.

Orion then began to roam the shelves, taking various scrolls and inspecting their contents. If he felt that he needed them he brought them to the scroll and sealed them in it. He made sure that there was enough for Sasuke to use when he needed to. Once he had what he needed, about twenty-five scrolls and books, he rolled up the sealing scroll and put it back in his backpack. He repeated the process for 3 more aisles, one for taijutsu, one for genjutsu and a final one for miscellaneous techniques. All in all he had about 100 scrolls, give or take.

On the other side of the room there were large, ornate double doors. Orion walked through the doors into another large room, this one however was filled to the brim with weapons, including but not limited to: shuriken, kunai, tanto, hamidashi, aikuchi, wakizashi, katana, tachi, tetsubo, bo staffs, sai, tekagi, naginata, kamayari, su yari, kama, kyoketsu shoge, kusarigama, makabishi, nunchaku, nagamaki, jitte, tonfa and tekko. There were also many different suits of battle armour, ranging in size, shape and colour. He ignored all of the above in favour of a rectangular box in the corner of the room. He had to push a few mannequins with armour out of the way to get to it. He keeled on the ground in front of the box and inspected it. It had paper seals on it around the entire lid. With some effort Orion picked up the box and brought it to the centre of the room.

He took a kunai out of one of his pockets and cut the palm of his right his right hand. He held his palm upright and cupped his hand, letting the blood pool. He dipped his thumb in the blood and rubbed it across one of the paper seals. He did this for every seal on the box. Most of the blood was gone so Orion licked the wound and quickly wrapped it up. He went through a series of handsigns and slammed his hands on the box. This made the paper seals glow and they all tore. Orion lifted the lid to reveal a katana. Not a normal katana though, the blade was black as night and the hilt was wrapped in dark red cloth. The oddest thing about the blade was that it had no guard, it went straight from hilt to blade. The sheath was right next to the blade and was dark red.

_'Hm, this blade matches my clothes.' _Orion thought. _'Too bad I'm not keeping it.' _Orion picked up the sheath and sword, sheathing the blade quickly. The boy put the sword over his shoulder and walked out the door, through the aisles and up the stairs. He made a single ram handsign and the stone barrier fell into place. He continued making his way out of the compound and into the busy streets of Konoha.

He kept on walking until he got to where he wanted to go. He knocked on the door of the house and within a couple of minutes it was opened by a middle aged slightly rotund man.

"Orion-san?" The man said, sounding confused.

"Hello Nato-san, is Daisuke here? I wish to speak with him." Orion responded.

"No, no he isn't. He's at the training field right now. He should still be there."

"Thank you Nato-san, I'll be going now." Orion lightly bowed and walked away.

He shortly arrived at what was his teams training field. Daisuke wasn't there so he continued onward to the lake to see Daisuke meditating on the water.

"Daisuke!" Orion called. Daisuke turned his head to look at the Uchiha.

"What do you want Orion-kun?" Daisuke asked with an indifferent tone.

"A couple of things," Orion said. "but first I wanted to give you this." He held out the sword horizontally in front of him, the blade facing his chest. Daisuke stood up and walked onto the shore.

"Why are you giving me this?" Daisuke asked, taking the sword from Orion. He drew it from the sheath and inspected the blade. He lightly tapped the blade with the back of his index finger and it lightly drew blood. "It's very good quality."

"It's been with the Uchiha clan since before the founding of Konoha. It was one of the clans greatest weapons. Now it belongs to the Muramasa clan." Daisuke looked at Orion with slight surprise on his face.

"Thank you Orion." Daisuke said. "Is there anything else you wanted?" Orion looked at Daisuke and without a hint of hesitation he said;

"Fight me." Daisuke raised an eyebrow at that.

"Why?"

"Because I want to know which one of us is stronger." Daisuke gave a scoffed laugh.

"Why do you want to know that?" The swordsman asked.

"I'll tell you after we fight." Orion responded. Daisuke smirked.

"Fine then, let's fight." Daisuke drew the sword from its sheath and dropped it. As well as that he drew the sword he had on his back.

"Hold on," Orion said. "I ought to let know that that sword has properties similar to your last one, but with this one its enhanced. It was made by Uchiha who specialise in Katon. It was made to leak flames to counter the Sharingans abilities." The Uchiha explained.

"Why are you giving me a sword that could potentially be your one weakness?"

"In case I ever go too far, and I need to be stopped, I want _you _to kill me." Orion said solemnly. A couple seconds of silence followed that statement

"Okay slow down," Daisuke said, he stabbed both swords into the ground and placed his hands on his head. "you're giving me this weapon to kill you if you go too far. Too far into what?" Daisuke asked. Orion sighed.

"I don't know, right now, how far I'm willing to go to receive power. Already I'm making a crazy decision that might end up killing me."

"What decision are you making?"

"I'll tell you after the fight."

"You're beginning to sound like a broken record."

"I suppose I am." Orion said while looking behind him. "Let's head back to the clearing, it'll be better to fight in a more open space."

"Fine." Daisuke said, picking up both swords and the sheath. It took only a couple minutes to walk to the training field. Orion put his backpack down as Daisuke placed the sheath of his newly acquired sword in a safe place. The two stood about 10 meets away from one another.

"Where's you're hitai-ate?" Daisuke asked, getting into a fighting stance.

"At home." Orion replied, also getting into a fighting stance.

"How come?" Daisuke asked as flames slowly started engulfing the black blade. Orion shrugged.

"I don't feel like wearing it." Orion's black eyes turned into the red of the Sharingan.

"Fair enough." Daisuke said. "Don't hold back."

"Wasn't planning to." Was the Uchiha's reply. Orion quickly went through a sequence of handsigns, succeeded by multiple balls of fire flying at Daisuke. The elder avoided the fire by jumping many times to side. As soon as he was sure he avoided all of the fire balls he swung the black sword, sending a 2 metre tall arc of fire at Orion. Said boy went through another sequence of handsigns, this time however, he slammed his hands onto the ground, causing a wall of earth to shoot up. The arc of fire collided with the earth, nearly incinerating the whole thing. It was enough to allow Orion to dart out of the blast radius.

Orion charged Raiton chakra into his right hand and condensed it. He grabbed his right wrist and aimed his hand at Daisuke. A blast of controlled lightning 6 inches in diameter shot out at an extremely fast speed. Daisuke leapt out of the way with less than half a second to spare and responded with a smaller, faster horizontal arc of flames. Orion leapt into the air and threw 3 kunai with paper bombs attached at Daisuke. When he landed on the ground he formed 3 **Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu** (Pure Lightning Kunai Technique) and threw them. Daisuke used the substitution jutsu to avoid the lightning kunai. Orion, however, had attached wires to the regular kunai and, in conjunction with his Sharingan, redirected the kunai to Daisuke's new position in the trees. When the kunai hit the foliage they detonated, causing a large explosion.

Orion looked at the area where the bombs detonated, examining the charred woods with his Sharingan. Before he could completely register what it was, a sword came launching out of the burnt foliage. Faster than even his own lightning kunai, Orion only managed to side step the projectile due to the foresight his Sharingan gave him. The blade still left a deep enough wound on his upper right arm. Daisuke leapt out of the charred trees. There was a spinning fireball on the tip of his remaining black sword and, whilst still mid air, he swung the blade in Orion's direction. The fireball nearly hit the Uchiha but he flipped backwards onto his hands, and flipped backwards again when a second fireball came towards him.

He took off running, a trail of fire, following the direction Daisuke was pointing his sword, was tailing him. After a couple seconds he turned on his right heel and channelled his Raiton chakra into his entire body and then forced it into the ground. Bolts of lightning rose from ground as Orion spat out;

"**Shinkou Arashi no Jutsu** (Rising Storm Technique)!"

The bolts effectively stopped the flames in their tracks. Orion threw a pellet on the ground, engulfing the area in a black smoke. He completed a short sequence of handsigns before whispering to himself;

"**Raiton: Bunshin no Jutsu** (Lightning Release: Clone Technique)."

A copy of Orion sparked into existence and in quick succession Orion used substitution to escape into the trees in the direction of the lake. He lay in wait, using the trees as his cover, for the smoke to clear. Eventually it did and there was Daisuke, cautiously waiting for the same thing to happen.

The swordsman looked at Orion, none the wiser that what he was looking at was not the real thing. He created a ball of fire at the tip of his new sword once again, and this time with more force, he swung his sword, launching the ball at the Uchiha. Clone Orion, not having efficient time to create another shield, narrowly jumped to the side to avoid the attack. The blast of fire had a wide enough radius that even though he leapt away he still got minor burns that nearly caused him to detonate prematurely. Orion hastily threw 2 handfuls of shuriken at Daisuke, and with a few handsigns, those handfuls doubled in number.

Daisuke easily batted them all away with his sword. The clone ran up and ducked under the swipe of Daisuke's blade and grabbed his right wrist, the one holding the sword, with his left hand, and with his right hand he grabbed Daisuke's collar. Daisuke gripped the back of Orion's vest, about to pull him off before, from the trees, the original Orion went through a series of handsigns and whispered;

"**Dendou Bakuhatsu no Jutsu **(Electric Explosion Technique)."

A smirk appeared on his face as his clone exploded with a charge of electricity, electrocuteing Daisuke. He fell to his knees and was smoking slightly. Orion emerged from the trees and said to Daisuke;

"Give up yet?" Daisuke looked up with a glare at Orion.

"Not a chance!" Daisuke brought his thumb to mouth and bit it. He then went through a series of handsigns that Orion recognised. The Uchiha's widened and he threw kunai to try to stop him. Daisuke slammed his right hand on the ground and in a puff of smoke a large lizard appeared. The kunai hit the lizard but he ignored it.

"Hello Daisuke-san," The Desert horned lizard said. "this is the first time you've summoned one of us."

"Yes it is," Daisuke stood up and placed his hand on the lizard. "and I hope that we can get along as well you and my Sensei."

"Yes, hopefully. Tobirama-kun selected you as his successor for a reason." The lizard looked at Orion. "You look beat up, and I assume this hatchling is the reason."

"You assume correctly Hitokage-san, he isn't to be underestimated." Daisuke stood atop the lizard, liquid looking flames leaking from the black blade. As they touched the lizard's scales they simply rolled off and fell to the ground. Hitokage unsheathed his claws and pounded at a breakneck speed at Orion. Orion sidestepped the attack with the claws passing less than a centimetre from his face. Hitokage used his tail to lash at Orion. The boy used an x-block but was knocked back quite a distance. He fell on his back but he was on his feet again almost instantly.

He was quickly concentrating chakra into his hand and releasing it in a burst of lightning. Simultaneously Daisuke used his sword to send out an arc of fire and Hitokage spewed what looked like lava to counter the lightning. Hitokage was quick to act and ran at Orion again. Before the reptile's claws could maul Orion a wall of white flames appeared between the two. The wall solidified into a crude looking white crystal. Daisuke lunged forward, standing on Hitokage's head, and stabbed the crystal, creating large cracks. Orion leapt over the wall and stood on Daisuke's hand holding the hilt. He had in his hand a blunt looking sword made of the same crystal as the wall.

Orion looked Daisuke in the eye, and Daisuke into his bleeding, duel hourglass ones. He made to hit Daisuke in the head but Hitokage intervened via his tail. Orion took a blow to the head and went flying across the field. Orion shakily stood up and formed another sword in his right hand.

_'Damn this hurts!' _Orion thought. _'The Mangekyou is really taking a toll.' _

Orion began running again, his eyes focused on his opponents. Hitokage spewed out the lava in Orion's path, the boy created more solidified white flames as a bridge. Towards the end they faltered so Orion jumped at Daisuke. He brought his sword back and then swung forward, his white weapon hitting Daisuke's black one. Sparks flew as the black blade carved into the white one, eventually smashing it. Daisuke continued the slash from Orion's right shoulder to his left hip. Using his left arm he elbowed Orion in the gut, sending him a few metres in that direction. Daisuke jumped off of Hitokage.

"I must leave now Daisuke-san, my time hear has expired." The lizard said.

"That's fine Hitokage, I can handle it from here on out." Daisuke said. The lizard then disappeared without another word. Daisuke then fell to one knee and was panting heavily. He used his sword as a lever and stood up, albeit it was taking a lot of effort. In front of him Orion was also regaining his bearings. The Uchiha then began inspecting the wound on his torso.

_'Its shallow,' _He thought. _'Not very detrimental.' _He looked up at Daisuke, who could barely stand. 'L_ooks like he won't be able to fight for much longer.' _Orion took a step forward, aiming to end the fight but as he took that first step he stumbled and fell to his hands and knees. _'I guess I'm not in much better condition.' _He deactivated the Sharingan completely and attempted to stand again. He succeeded and began walking, more like limping, towards Daisuke. The swordsman himself also stood, he then proceeded to take a soldier pill out of a pouch and then munched on it. Orion copied the action as he walked, his gait becoming more confident almost instantly.

"Daisuke," Orion said, stopping his sauntering. "the first time we met we fought using only our fists," Orion got into a taijutsu stance. "let's finish this fight the same way." Daisuke smirked, and with a brief chuckle he responded.

"Fine by me," He then stabbed his sword into the ground, and took a taijutsu stance of his own. "but seeing as I can't use my sword, you can't use your Sharingan."

"Sounds fair." Orion said. "I don't need it." Orion ran at Daisuke.

"Keep telling yourself that." Daisuke ran at Orion and the two met each other, a fierce fight utilising only hands and feet broke out. After many minutes neither side was giving an inch, there were both, however, showing signs of fatigue. Orion delivered a particularly hard kick to Daisuke's gut, which caused the swordsman to spit up some blood. Daisuke in turn attempted to elbow Orion in the temple but he used a x-block to shield himself. The Uchiha then tried to drive his hand up into Daisuke's solar plexus but his hand was grabbed. Daisuke then used the hand he tried to elbow with and punched Orion in the jaw. After a few more minutes of similar back and forth one of them finally gained the upper hand, if only marginally.

Daisuke gave an uppercut to Orion, sending the boy flying backwards and landing on his back. Daisuke took advantage of this opportunity and pounced on the boy, using his left arm he pinned Orion's shoulders to the ground.

"Do you forfeit?" Daisuke asked.

"I don't exactly have many options now do I?" Orion asked rhetorically.

"No, you don't."

"Fine then," Orion said, relaxing his body. "I forfeit." Daisuke stood up and offered a hand to Orion, which he took.

"I believe you have to answer a couple of questions to answer." Daisuke said.

"I guess I said I would." Orion sighed. "First off, I wanted to know which one of us was stronger because...well," Orion had a thoughtful look on his face. "to be honest I don't really know why. I just wanted to know."

"And secondly, what decision are you making?" Daisuke inquired. Orion looked down, seemingly unwilling to look Daisuke in the eye.

"I'm..." Orion paused.

"Come on, spit it out!" Orion exhaled deeply.

"I'm leaving the village." Orion said. Daisuke raised an eyebrow.

"W-what?" Daisuke stuttered.

"I'm leaving the village so I can gain power from," Orion removed the glove from his left hand and raised it to show off his curse mark. "him." Daisuke remained motionless for a couple of seconds before his brow furrowed in anger. He brought back his fist and punched Orion in the face, sending him to the ground.

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU TEAMING UP WITH HIM OFF ALL PEOPLE!? It's his fucking fault that Momohime and Tobirama-sensei are dead!" Daisuke was seething with anger. Orion stood and without a hint of hesitation said the following;

"It's _my_ fault that they're dead, Daisuke! I was his target and it was my hand that killed Momohime, if you didn't notice i couldn't stand to use the **Raiton: Yaiba **(Lightning Release: Blade)! If I don't go to him then their deaths will have been for nothing."

"Listen to yourself Orion, can't you hear how crazy you sound! It's-"

"Just stop Daisuke, I've already made my decision. There's nothing you say that can change my mind. I only ask 2 things of you."

"If you think for a second that I'll entertain thi-" He was interrupted again.

"First I want you to swear that you'll tell no-one about this until 24 hours after I'm gone."

"I'm not going to swear to any-"

"Secondly I want you to train Sasuke in my stead." After that Daisuke ceased his attempts at vocalising his issues with what Orion was saying.

"Why?" He asked through grit teeth. "Why do you want me to do that!?"

"Because I won't be able to." Orion said calmly.

"Then stay. If you do then-"

"There's more to it than that Daisuke! I want you to form a bond with him, give him another tie to the village so that he won't do what I'm going to." Orion put the glove back on his left hand. He looked down, his hair shadowing his eyes. "After what happened to Momohime and Sensei I just can't do this anymore, it reminded me that I still have a long way to go before I can kill the masked man. Orochimaru is a way to gain a lot of power." Orion paused and looked Daisuke in the eye. "Please try to understand where I'm coming from. This...tragedy, is different for the both of us. Momohime and Sensei are the victims, you and Yukino are the mourners, I'm the cause,"

"It's Orochimaru's fau-"

"and Orochimaru's the catalyst. He may have thrown the kunai but I'm the one who put them in its path." Daisuke looked at Orion, not wanting to, but seeing some logic in the boys words. "Daisuke, promise me, don't say anything until tomorrow night, and train Sasuke for me. Please."

"Orion, I-" Daisuke said sadly.

"Besides," Orion smiled, a smile that if you squinted you could see that it was fake. "I never said that I'd be gone forever. Once I'm strong enough to kill the Masked-Man I'll have no reason to stay with Orochimaru, then I'll come back."

Daisuke allowed a small sad smile to grace his lips before sighing deeply and putting his hands on his hips. "I doubt that'll be easy, after all, he did take out Tobirama-sensei."

"I figured as much. Anyway, Daisuke, I have a couple of other things to do before, ya know, I leave the village, join a psychotic snake man, probably be labelled a nukenin, master new levels of power, avenge my family and bring peace to the world, except not the last one." Daisuke scoffed. "The academy'll be out soon, I'm gonna go hone and clean myself up. You've probably given me a concussion." As Orion said the second part of that sentence he touched the left side of his head, the blood on which was drying. Orion retrieved his backpack and began walking out of the training field. As he did so he noticed that all the white crystal he created had disappeared. As he was waking away he turned his head and said to Daisuke;

"See ya."

"See ya." Was the response he got. It was the last exchange the two would have for years to come.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Orion's POV

I was once again in my bathroom, showering for the second time that day. I turned off the water and stepped out of the bathtub. I took only a brief shower so steam didn't hand enough time to fill the room. I walked over to the mirror to inspect my wounds. I traced the cut Daisuke gave me diagonally across my chest and abdomen._'That's odd,' _I thought. _'I know its shallow but it can't be closing that much already.' _I touched my hand to my head to inspect my other noteworthy wound. Ghosting my fingers across it I could feel the layer of dried blood. It didn't hurt as much as much as a blow that hard should have.

Another thing that was wrong were my eyes. I read that the Mangekyou was supposed to deteriorate one's eyesight after each use, but I didn't experience much impact. Another oddity was that the abilities I used should have taken alot of chakra, more so than I know I have. I looked at the curse mark on my hand. _'Did the mark increase my chakra levels, or did it reduce the cost of my Mangekyou abilities?' _I was rather confused to say the least. Before I could think on it anymore a dull ache began to form in my head. The ache began to increase to the point until I couldn't stand properly and I was trembling.

My head is burning but it seems as if my vocal chords, along with everything else, are going numb. I feel as if something is violently tugging at my consciousness, trying to pull me inside myself, if that makes any sense. I began to fall to the ground. Before I could think of anything else everything went black.

I opened my eyes. Everything around me was infinitely black, but not dark, if it were dark I wouldn't be able to see myself, which I could. I noticed I was the same as I was before, meaning I was still naked and wet from the shower. Every bruise and cut was still there but nothing seemed to hurt. I stood, there looked to be no visible ground underneath me but I could feel as if I was standing on wooden floorboards. As well as that there was no depth or border in any direction, just constant blackness. I walked forward, and didn't fall into an abyss, in an attempt to find something. For a few minutes there was nothing, that was until I felt myself, mostly my nose, collide with a wall of some sort.

The blackness in front of me looked no different then before. I put my hands out before me to feel around, it felt like stone, and after a couple metres of feeling to the right there was a gap. In order to measure the width of the gap I put my right arm in it and started walking sideways to the right. When my arm hit against a wall I judged the gap to be roughly four metres in width. I started walking through the gap and as I did I discovered that the gap was a tunnel as the four metre distance remained consistent.

I continued walking down the tunnel and as I did I felt the air around me become heavy. Fairly soon after I felt as if something was slithering all around my body and given my current apparel, which was nothing, I felt somewhat vulnerable. The feeling continued for some time until I tripped over something. Instinctively I put my arms out to catch myself. I didn't fall to the floor, there was something supporting me in the air. After feeling for a few seconds I deduced that I was on stairs. I started walking up the stairs, keeping my left hand on the wall to keep from falling again.

The feeling only continued to grow as I continued walking to the point where the air itself was suffocating. My eyes widened with fright as I felt something cold grab the back of my neck. I turned and swiped my hand out in front of me. My hands and arm felt as if they passed through ice cold water. I felt the same coldness on my chest, in the middle. I began clawing where I felt the cold as I felt it move in front of my heart. I froze, terror consuming me. My breath hitched when the cold engulfed my heart, as if a hand made of ice suddenly reached within my chest and grabbed it.

"Your eyyyyyesssss." I hear I ghostly quiet voice whisper. "Ussssse," it whispered again. "your eyyyyyesssss." I got the message it was trying to give me and, with a blink, I activated the Sharingan. The darkness was gone, I could see a tangible world around me now. I looked around and saw the walls and stairs were made of wood, solid oak wood. There was no being of any sort in front of me and the cold was gone. I could still feel the suffocating air though. Another thing I noticed was that I was no longer nude. I was now clad in an ankle long black cloak with white tomoe outlining it. I lifted up an arm up to eye level and saw that the sleeves were really baggy.

I continued walking up the stairs for at least another 15 minutes. Every step was harder to take than the last but eventually I made it to the top. The air was now so thick that each step felt as if I was taking it through sand. When I finally gazed upon what I walking towards my mouth was left agape.

"What the hell?" I said to myself.

First of all the room I was in was like before, the walls, floor and ceiling were naught but darkness. That was not what had me shocked though. In the centre of the room was a gigantic sphere of what looked like dark red flesh, at least the height of the Hokage Monument, in front of me. On the front of the bad giant sphere was a slit that went from top to bottom. I could see that originating from the other side there were many hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of tubes that looked akin to veins going into the walls, floor and ceiling behind the sphere.

"What is this thing?" I said to myself. The sphere stirred before the slit slowly began to open. When it opened as much as it would it revealed a white under sphere, and in the centre off that sphere was a faded black dot. The black dot quickly moved, as if to look at something.

_'Its looking at me.' _I thought. _'It's an eye!' _I realised. "What the hell is this?" Suddenly there was movement from the 'south pole' of the sphere. It looked as if blood was congregating at that point into some sort of blob. Suddenly the blob detached from the sphere and hit the ground with a squelch. I looked at it apprehensively before electing to stay where I was and wait for it to do something. A hand shot up from blob, a human hand, and it dug its nails into the non-existent ground. Another hand joined it and both looked as if they were dragging something. I wasn't wrong as a head soon joined the hands, along with a torso and legs. The being stood and the remnants of the blob, most of which was gone, began to mold around the being to form clothing.

The being had straight black hair going down to its back, pale white skill, androgynous facial and body features and it was wearing the same thing I was but with the colours inverted.

"What are you!?" I asked it. The being walked forward, slowly but with a purpose. I got on guard but I doubted I could put up a great fight with this heavy air weighing me down. "I said: WHAT ARE YOU!?"

"That," The being said with a dull emotionless voice of indecipherable gender. "is not for you to know."

"The hell it is! You dragged me hear therefore you owe me an explanation! Where are we anyway?" The being raised its hand lazily to point at me.

"We are in your mind."

"What?" I said with a confused expression. "What do you mean!?" The being opened its eyes to reveal nothing but pure white.

"It is as I said. It is not a difficult concept to grasp. Are you thick? I should think not. From what I've seen you seem to be somewhat of a prodigy. Although I would have to take some responsibility for that." The being drolled monotonously. A tick mark formed on my head as I exhaled with frustration.

"Will you just please answer my questions?" I said, stressing the please.

"I will answer only what I want to answer."

"Okay fine." I inhaled and exhaled one more time. "What are you?"

"I don't want to answer that." The tick mark appeared again.

"Okay, what is that?" I said, gesturing to the gigantic eye, which had closed again.

"That is my actual form. This body is just to make it easier to communicate with you. You didn't seen l seem to enjoy the attempt I made earlier."

"Bastard!" I said with anger. "That was you!?"

"Did I not just say that. I'm beginning to think that you really are thick."

"Moving on." I said through grit teeth. "Why did you drag me here?"

"You used the Mangekyou Sharingan for the first time today, I wanted to see you face to face. It has been almost a year since we've been together so I thought a meeting was due."

"Almost a year? When exactly did you...enter me?"

"The night the massacre occurred." Those 5 words made my eyes widen.

"What!? Why!? How!?"

"I'll ignore the irrelevant what. As for the why and how, I do not care to answer either of them right now."

"You frustrate me, and I've only known you for 5 minutes!"

"I don't care." The being said. "Just know that you'll find out everything in due time."

"Well when _is_ the due time."

"When I want it to be." The tick mark came back 3 times the size from before. "Anything else?"

"Just one thing. What's with my wounds? Why are they healing at such a fast rate? Also why isn't my eyesight deteriorating after using the Mangekyou?"

"That's two things." A second tick mark appeared alongside the first one. "The reason you're healing faster is because those coils," it said, gesturing behind it to the veins coming from the eye. "are pumping my chakra and mingling it with yours, not only increasing the potency and size of your reserves, but also increasing the rate at which you heal. It's the same concept with your eyes. However I only delay the rate of deterioration. You will eventually go blind, whether or not you actually use your eyes. That is the price of the Mangekyou Sharingan, those who have it will eventually lose their light."

"I don't care as long as they last long enough for me to kill the Masked-Man. Can you guarantee that they'll last that long?" I asked.

"That depends on how long it takes you to act, but I can guarantee 10 years of good eyesight as long as it is used sparsely."

"That'll do. At the rate I've been going I'll need only five." I smirked as I said that.

"Possibly." The being said. "Don't get overconfident, I would find it annoying if you were to die so soon."

"Why?" I asked with genuine curiosity.

"In due time."

"Fuck you!" I said quickly, pointing an accusing finger.

"You'd like to wouldn't you." The being deadpanned. The tick marks enveloped my head.

"I'm leaving." I said. "I hope I won't see you for a long time."

"Goodbye." The being said. A few seconds of silence followed.

"How do I leave?" I asked. The being began walking to the base of the sphere. When it reached the point it was absorbed back into the sphere. In a flash I was back in the real world, in my bathroom and falling to the ground. I caught myself before I smacked my head on the tiles. I had been in my mind for at least half an hour but it seemed as if no time had actually passed at all.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

I dried, dressed my wounds and re-dressed. I wore the same thing as before, except a different vest that looked the same. I walked into the kitchen and ate some prepared onigiri. I looked at the clock and after remembering the time the academy finished I left. I walked through the compound to the only other occupant.

I stood in front of Sasuke's door and knocked. He answered within seconds and I looked at him.

Normal POV

"Orion-kun?" Sasuke said. He didn't register the call. "Orion-kun?" Sasuke snapped his fingers in front of Orion's face. The elder Uchiha snapped out of his stupor.

"Sasuke-kun," Orion said. "can I come in?"

"Of course." Orion walked through the threshold of the house, took off his shoes, and the two then walked into the kitchen and sat at the low table. Orion reached behind his back and took the extra holster off and placed it on the table.

"I meant to give this back to you almost a year ago. Eight shuriken, the same amount you left at the academy the night our lives changed." Orion said. Sasuke had a look of mild surprise on his face.

"Thanks." Sasuke said, taking the holster. "I doubt you came here just to give me this. What's up?" Orion looked a little apprehensive.

"Nothing much. How's the academy going for ya?"

"Fine." Sasuke looked at Orion as if he grew a second head. "Why? You've never inquired as to my schoolwork before."

"I'm just curious." Orion said. "How's your friend, Naruto, is it?"

"He's fine. We train together more days than not." Sasuke noticed the bandages around his cousins head. "What happened to your head?"

"Oh I just got hit by the tail of a fire spewing giant lizard. Noting major." Orion said nonchalantly. Sasuke raised a quizzical eyebrow before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I'm not even going to ask." Sasuke said. "So why the interest in my academic and social life."

"No particular reason. Is there a crime in getting to know my cousin better?" Orion said with a smirk.

"There might be." Sasuke said with a smirk of his own. "You never know."

"Sasuke, I want to know how far you'd be willing to go in order to kill Itachi?" Orion said, putting on a serious tone.

"Where's this coming from?" Sasuke asked.

"Please just answer the question." Sasuke looked down, a thoughtful expression on his face. After a couple of minutes Sasuke looked up.

"I wouldn't do what Itachi wanted, I wouldn't kill my best friend. When I defeat him it will be because I found my own way."

"I thought that would be your answer. What about power, what would be the worst thing you can think of? Murder? Betrayal? Lying? Would you give up your soul if it meant you could kill Itachi." As Orion said this he spoke more intense each time. Sasuke, though he wouldn't admit it, was beginning to get a little frightened, so much do that he was unconsciously leaning backwards. He leaned forward again and balled his fists on the table.

"Orion," Sasuke looked Orion dead in the eye. "I would sell my soul to the devil if it meant I could kill Itachi." Orion gave a small smile.

"That's good to know Sasuke-kun, just don't go that far if you can help it."

"I'll try." Sasuke responded. "So, I'll see if I can get an answer this time, what brought on these questions?" Orion smirked.

"You'll find out tomorrow."

"How so?"

"You'll find out tomorrow." Orion repeated, standing up. "Anyway, I'm gonna head off now. Don't let up on your training, and keep Naruto around."

"Um, okay. See ya Orion."

"See ya Sasuke." Orion walked to the door, put on his shoes and walked out the door. He looked over his shoulder and placed his hand on the door. "Sorry Sasuke." Orion then began walking towards the centre of Konoha.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Orion was walking around the streets of Konoha, going nowhere in particular. It was getting dark, the village was bathed in an orange light, signalling that it was almost time for him to go home and leave with Tsuchi. He had debated going to say goodbye to Yukino, but he decided against it. She had decades of experience as a Shinobi and could easily catch onto the fact that something was wrong. She would be able to stop him if she did catch on or she'd go to the Hokage. That would be even more problematic.

Orion was getting hungry so he decided to eat out before going home. He was debating as to where to go for food as he walked past a small ramen shop.

"Ichiraku ramen." Orion mumbled to himself. He shrugged and walked in, inhaling the smell of broth, meat and noodles. There was only one other occupant that Orion didn't take note of.

Orion's POV

"What would you like to order?" A young teenage girl looking about Daisuke's age asked me.

"What would you recommend?" I asked.

"Get the miso ramen," the other occupant said as he slurped his broth. "it's the best." He slammed the bowl down on the counter. "Another one Ayame-neechan!"

"Sure thing Naruto-kun." She said with a smile. "Will you have that too?" She asked me.

_'Oh yeah,' _I thought. _'That's Naruto.' _

"Sure." I said. "Thanks." I looked at Naruto. "Naruto-san?" He looked at me with a confused look before he realised who I was.

"Orion-san!" Naruto said excitedly. "Haven't you ever been here before?" He asked incredulously.

"No, I haven't." I said. Naruto looked at me as if I grew a second head, much like Sasuke did earlier.

"You're weird." He said. I simply raised an eyebrow at his statement.

"Probably." I said. "So Naruto, you're good friends with Sasuke aren't you?"

"Yeah but sometimes he's a teme." I chuckled at that.

"How so?" I asked. Naruto crossed his arms and got a peeved look on his face.

"He calls me dope and uses me as a buffer!" I chuckled again.

"How does he use you as a buffer?"

"He'll sit in the back corner of the classroom and make me sit next to him so he doesn't have to sit next to any fangirls!" A smirk made its way onto my face.

"Here you go boys." The girl said, placing 2 bowls of ramen on the counter. "Enjoy." The two of us took chopsticks from the container, pulled them apart and declared;

"Itadakimasu." He said it more enthusiastically than me. I picked up some noodles and blew on it. Naruto on the other hand began slurping relentlessly.

"The two of you train together, right?" I asked. Naruto looked at me with noodles hanging from his mouth. He slurped them up and began talking.

"Yeah we do. The teme always cheats in our fights!" The blond exclaimed.

"How so?" I asked, taking in a mouthful of meat.

"He always wins! I don't know how but he cheats!" Naruto finished his ramen and once again slurped the broth. "Another one Ayame-neechan!"

"Coming up." She said.

"Where's Jiji?" Naruto asked.

"Oh he's out back checking the stock." Ayame said while straining noodles. "Am I not good enough for you or something?" She asked with mock anger, I doubt Naruto could tell though. He immediately got all defensive.

"No no! I was just curious is all!" He said as his face flustered.

"I should hope so." She said. Naruto laughed nervously.

"Naruto-san," I said.

"Heh?" He mumbled, turning towards me.

"will you promise me something?"

"Sure I will!" He said with a large smile. "What?"

"Promise me that you'll always look out for Sasuke, and that no matter what you'll never give up on him."

"Huh?" He said, tilting his head in a confused manner. "Why do you want me to promise that?"

"That doesn't matter." I said. "Will you promise me?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna be Hokage be day and a Hokage always keeps their promises!" A small smile formed on my face.

"That's good to know." I took a couple of bills out of my pocket and placed them on the counter next to my half finished bowl of ramen. "I'm gonna go home now Naruto-san. You can finish what I've left." I hopped of the bar stool.

"See ya." I said as I walked out.

"Bye!" Naruto waved. "And thanks for the ramen!"

I walked through the now dark streets of Konoha towards the compound. When I entered the compound I pondered if I should go to the Naka Shrine. I decided not to, as Tsuchi was probably waiting for me by now. I walked up to my front door and opened it for probably the last time. I walked up to my bedroom and collected my backpack and hitai-ate. I walked into the bathroom and ran my hitai-ate under the tap and wiped it down with a cloth. I pulled off the bandages away and threw them in the bin. I put my hitai-ate on and tied it around my head. I looked in the mirror, remembering that the last time I wore my hitai-ate like this I killed my best friend.

I heard the jingle of bells that signalled Tsuchi's arrival. I turned to see the man with a smile on his face. He threw a small object at me. I caught it and saw that it was a bell attached to a hook. I looked at Tsuchi and he tapped the left side of his flak jacket.

_'I guess he wants me to hook it onto myself.' _So I did.

He silently gestured for me to follow him. I began walking, down the stairs, out the door and through the compound. I heard the bell ring with each step. Tsuchi was walking quite a bit ahead of me, but I didn't care. It was probably to look as inconspicuous as possible. I put my hands in my pockets and looked down, trying to draw the least amount of attention to myself as possible. Anybody and everybody I walked past acted as if they couldn't even see me. The bell attached to me probably hid my presence out something. I could see the main gate ahead of us and as I did I once again heard the jingle of the bells. Tsuchi walked past the gate and then disappeared. As I walked past the gate I saw the two usually on guard fast asleep.

_'Probably the work of the bells.' _I thought.

I continued walking for a few minutes before I felt the curse mark pulse. It wasn't painful, but it let me know that a certain somebody was in the area.

"Orion-kun." I heard someone to my right say. I looked and I saw Tsuchi, this time he was not wearing the flak jacket and had a hitai-ate with a musical note on it. "This way." He said, jumping into the foliage. I jumped after him, going through the treetops at a fast pace. After agile awhile Tsuchi stopped on a branch and jumped to the ground.

"Why'd you stop?" I asked, landing next to him on the ground and looking up at him.

"I am humbled," Tsuchi got down on one knee and put his right hand over his heart, a sign of submission. I looked forward and my mark pulsed violently. There he was, Orochimaru, standing before us with a somewhat creepy smile and folded arms. "to be in _your _great presence, Orochimaru-sama."

"Well done, Tsuchi-kun," Orochimaru began walking towards us. "for bringing me the boy to me." Orochimaru cupped his hand under Tsuchi's chin and tilted his head upwards. "You did good. Now you can come back to your sister, Kin, isn't it?"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama, it is. I've really been looking forwar-" He stopped speaking when Orochimaru's hand glowed blue and cut Tsuchi's neck. The man fell forward, making a sick gurgling sound as blood flowed from his neck. Orochimaru then focused his piercing gaze on me. I stood still, unnaturally so, in fear that if I moved even a muscle my life would end.

"Kill him." Orochimaru's sultry voice said. I looked down at Tsuchi, the man was still gurgling on his blood. My gaze met Orochimaru's and I broke out in a sweat. "He's going to die, might as well put him out of his misery." I cautiously took a kunai out of my pouch and keeled down next to Tsuchi. I looked into his eyes and saw naught but fear, pure undiluted fear. I brought the kunai to his neck and deepened the wound exponentially, causing the blood to flow out like a geyser. It didn't take long for the life to drain from his eyes.

"Come, we will now make our way to **Oto no Kuni **(Land of Sound) and we will begin your training immediately, Orion-kun." Orochimaru said with a creepy smile. I gulped.

"Y-yes, Orochimaru-s-sama." I stuttered. The sannin began walking through the forest, due north, and I followed him, making it impossible for me to go back.

* * *

********BREAK********

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A blue haired women stood atop a skyscraper in the relentless rain. She had her hand outstretched, waiting for something. That something came, a small paper butterfly landed in her palm. It unfolded into a regular piece of paper with a circle of kanji on it. The circle disappeared and in a puff of smoke a white scroll appeared. She opened the scroll and read it. After a few lines her brows furrowed. Suddenly she dispersed into thousands of pieces of paper and the swarm then began flying through the air, undeterred by the rain.

She made her way to another skyscraper, this one with an orange haired man sitting on the tongue of a head obtruding from a skyscraper. The swarm parted around the man while going into the skyscraper before the papers assembled and the woman reformed with the scroll in hand.

"Sasori hand given us a status report. Apparently Uchiha Orion has abandoned Konoha in favour of joining Orochimaru." Konan said. "This'll make it much more difficult for Sasori to keep tabs on him. Madara won't be happy."

"Madara won't bothered." Pein said. "In Madara's own words Orion is only a backup plan. If he truly cares he'll intervene, if not there's no great loss."

"If you say so." Konan said.

* * *

**Wow, that was long. About 9600 words, 3000 more than my second longest. Don't forget to check out my Deviantart page and please review. **

**Until next time.**

**I bid you adieu.**


	14. The Obedient One

**Published: 26th August 2015**

**I would like to say that I passed the milestone of 25 reviews. De-wait-for-it-lighted.**

**These chapters may take longer to publish because I haven't come up with alot of plot points for the early stages of Orion's and Orochimaru's training. Hopefully I'll find my muse.**

**Maail99: You aren't far off when it comes to Daisuke's mindset, but it'll be touched upon later in the story. Orion didn't see the tablet with his Mangekyou, he didn't know that the Mangekyou showed more. The abilities of his Mangekyou are the same as his mothers, creating white flames with his right eye, and then solidifying them with his left eye. The ability is called Futsunushi. If you're wondering when he learned all the new jutsu don't forget that there was a 10 week time skip after the run in with the Jashinists.**

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_**Summary of last chapter: **__Orion says goodbye to Daisuke and they fight. Orion had given Daisuke a blade forged long ago by the Uchiha clan and Daisuke revealed that he is now a lizard summoner. Orion revealed the mangekyou ability to create white flames and then solidify then. Daisuke just barely comes out on top and the two say goodbye. _

_Orion then is forced into his own mindscape where he meets a mysterious entity within him. The entity says that it has been with Orion since the massacre and that it is responsible for Orion's remarkable growth in power. It says that Orion will find out what it is in due time and he is then forced out of his mindscape._

_Orion then goes to see Sasuke and asks him many questions. Sasuke is confused and Orion says that he'll find out why he is asking all the questions tomorrow. He then leaves Sasuke with some advice and then departs._

_Tsuchi then arrives in Orion's house and leads him out of the village to Orochimaru. Orochimaru then has Orion kill Tsuchi._

_The Akatsuki know of Orion's defection via Sasori's spies._

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Obedient One**

* * *

In the forests outside Konoha three ANBU were standing over a half decapitated corpse. One of them keeled down and flipped it onto its stomach. He wiped his thumb over the hitai-ate, removing the blood and revealing his allegiance.

"His name is Tsuchi Kinjimaru, an instructor at the academy, or he was." He said.

"Where is that hitai-ate from?" One of the standing ANBU said.

"It is from Otogakure, a new hidden village north of **Hi no Kuni** (Land of Fire) and west of** Yu no Kuni **(Land of Hot Water)." The other standing ANBU said.

"How long do you think he was dead?" The first standing ANBU asked.

""By the look and smell it has been at least 12 hours."

"Was he a traitor?" The kneeling ANBU said.

"Further investigation will be needed before we can conclusively say that." The first standing ANBU said. "For now let's bring this corpse back to the village for an autopsy."

"Right." The others chorused.

* * *

********BREAK********

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"He isn't anywhere to be found Hokage-sama!" A female ANBU said to man. "We have squads skowering the Uchiha compound, training grounds and the outskirts of the village. So far we have found nothing." There was a knock at the door to the office.

"Enter." The Hokage said. Another ANBU entered the room.

"Hokage-sama," The ANBU bowed. "in the forest outside Konoha we have discovered the corpse of a known Konoha Shinobi with the headband of a foreign village on him." He said. The Hokage's eyes narrowed.

"What country?"

"The recently established Otogakure." The ANBU said. The Hokage grit his teeth.

"Who was the Shinobi?"

"Tsuchi Kinjimaru." The ANBU said. The Hokage kept a stoic visage but on the inside he was seething furiously.

_'To think that an enemy had an agent that close to me!' _He thought. "Is there anything linking him to the disappearance of Uchiha Orion?"

"We have sent a tracking squad to investigate the area and find a trail. Until they report back we cannot say that he is involved, no matter how likely it may seem."

"Where is the corpse now?"

"We've sent it to get an autopsy in order to confirm who it is as well as the time of death."

"Very good." Sarutobi said. "You are both dismissed." The two ANBU bowed and then disappeared in puffs of smoke. The Hokage stood, looked out his window and exhaled through his nose. He then turned, took his hat off the desk, put it on and walked out of the office.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Sasuke was walking out of the academy with the crowd, Naruto was by his side. "Alright, let's get to the training field, dattebayo!" The blond said.

"Calm down dope, we have homework to do first."

"Teme, that's boring. We can do that later."

"Do what you want but I'm going home to do my homework first." Sasuke said. Naruto had a look of disdain on his face.

"Hmph!" Naruto said, crossing his arms. "Fine! But I'm only going with you to copy your answers."

"Hm, as if. You're on your own."

"Teme!" The two were walking through Konoha towards the Uchiha compound, receiving mixed looks from civilians, and swapping friendly banter. When they reached the entrance of the compound they saw a white robed man waiting for them. Naruto's face got a broad smile on his face and ran up to the man.

"Jiji!" He yelled, embracing the man's midsection.

"Naruto-kun, it's good to see you," he said, placing a hand on the boy's head. "but right now I'm here to speak with Sasuke-kun." He looked at said boy who's eyebrow was raised in confusion, then down at Naruto again. "It is a private matter that I need to discuss with Sasuke alone." Naruto tilted his head to side.

"What is it?" The blond inquired. The Hokage chuckled lightly.

"Like I said Naruto-kun, it is a private matter." Naruto detached himself from the old man.

"Okay, but don't take too long," The boy looked back at Sasuke. "we're going to train later."

"Don't worry it shouldn't take too long Naruto-kun."

"Okay Jiji." Naruto turned to face Sasuke and pointed at him.. "I'm going to the training field now! We can do homework later!" He took off running. Sasuke sighed.

"Why do you want to talk with me Hokage-sama?" The Uchiha said, walking closer to the old man.

"We shall discuss that when we get to your house Sasuke-kun." Sasuke shrugged and began walking in the direction of his house, the Hokage by his side. Sasuke opened his front for Hiruzen, walking in after the man. Sasuke removed his shoes after closing the door. He then escorted the Hokage into kitchen.

"Would you like anything to drink Hokage-sama?" Sasuke asked as the man sat at the low table.

"No, it's fine Sasuke-kun." The boy then sat across from the Hokage.

"So why is it you wanted to see me Hokage-sama?"

"I needed to speak with you about Orion-kun." Sarutobi said. He saw that Sasuke's brows furrowed and he had a look of concentration on his face. "Is something the matter Sasuke-kun?"

"It's just that yesterday Orion came here and asked me some weird questions. When I asked why he said that I'd find out today, but I haven't seen him yet today."

"Sasuke-kun," Hiruzen said, looking Sasuke in the eye with a solicitous look. "Orion is nowhere to be found within the village, or within the surrounding forests."

"W-what?" Sasuke asked disbelievingly.

"I'm sorry to say that it's true. We suspect that he has defected to an infamous nukenin known as Orochimaru. It is believed he left sometime last night, after dark."

"A-are you certain?"

"We don't have confirmation as of yet but it seems to extremely likely." Sarutobi looked at the crestfallen Sasuke.

"I guess that explains the questions he asked me." Sasuke said solemnly.

"Tell me Sasuke-kun, what questions did he ask you?" Sasuke donned a brief look of thought before speaking.

"He asked me about the academy, about my relationship with Naruto and what I'd be willing to do to avenge the clan." Sasuke gave a half-hearted sardonic chortle. "I kept trying ask why he was asking and he said that I'd find out today. He was true to his word, I suppose."

"How do you feel about it Sasuke-kun?" Sarutobi asked. Sasuke sighed.

"I don't really know. We agreed long ago that we wouldn't get in each others way of revenge. I mean, he just lost his friend and sensei, he's probably stopped caring about how he obtains power." Sasuke looked up at the ceiling with a distant gaze. "He did what he felt he had to, I don't really have the right to say that he's wrong, do I?"

"I couldn't say." Sarutobi said. "Sasuke-kun, I'm going to inform you about certain things that, under any other circumstances, I wouldn't even entertain the idea of telling you." Sasuke looked at the Hokage, his attention undivided.

"This man, Orochimaru, is known to have at some point been a member of an S-Ranked nukenin organisation known as Akatsuki. Your brother Itachi is also known to currently be a member." Sasuke's eyes widened.

"What else can you tell me about this?" Sasuke asked, seemingly calm but inside he was electrified. _'I need any information I can get about Itachi!' _He thought. The Hokage exhaled, hesitant to reveal anymore information.

"I cannot tell you much else except that Orochimaru left the organisation because of Itachi. We assume it was because he failed to obtain the Sharingan and is now making an attempt on Orion's." Sasuke's eyes widened briefly before going back to normal.

"Orion's strong, he won't let himself be taken so easily."

"I hope that you are correct Sasuke-kun." The Hokage said, standing up. "I have other duties to attend to. I'll let myself out." Sasuke stood up and bowed.

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Sarutobi bowed his head and left.

_'Orion,' _Sasuke thought. _'try not to die.'_

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Daisuke was in his kitchen with his uncle. He was drying dishes Nato handed to him with a towel. Suddenly there were three sharp knocks on the door.

"I'll get it." Daisuke said, putting down the towel and dish in his hand. He walked to the front door and opened it, seeing someone he was not entirely surprised to be seeing.

"Hokage-sama," Daisuke said, stepping back and holding the door wide open. "to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I only wish to ask you a few questions, Daisuke-kun." Sarutobi said, walking into the house. "Unfortunately we have discovered that-"

"Daisuke who is it?" Nato said, walking to the door. When he saw who it was he fumbled with the plate in his hand, nearly dropping it but he caught it and clutched it to his chest. "H-h-hokage-sama!" Nato stuttered, quickly bowing. "What are you doing here Hokage-sama?"

"I'm here to ask Daisuke questions regarding his teammate Uchiha Orion. It is a private matter so if we could be left alone, that would be ideal."

"Of course Hokage-sama. The dining room is just down the hall."

"Thank you Nato-san. Daisuke-kun, if we may."

"Yes Hokage-sama." Daisuke walked down the hall with Sarutobi close behind. They seated themselves at the table, an uneasy silence hanging over them for a moment.

"What would you like to ask me Hokage-sama?"

"I would like to know if you know anything about the disappearance of Uchiha Orion. Do you?" Daisuke looked at the clock.

"It's past noon, so I can tell you what I know." Daisuke said. Sarutobi raised as eyebrow at that statement.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Yesterday Orion came to see me while I was training. He requested we fought, and we did. It was a tough battle, the toughest I've ever fought." A small smile appeared on Daisuke's face. "After the fight we spoke. He dropped the bombshell that he was leaving the village to learn from the snake using psychopath." He chuckled. "He also made me swear not to breath a word about it until a day after he's gone. It's a little early but I don't think it really matters."

"Daisuke-kun, this could develop into something serious. A Shinobi has defected from our ranks and you withheld information. This is grounds for suspension ." The Hokage said stony-faced.

"That may be but I don't regret my actions. Orion wouldn't have told me if he thought I'd stop him, and he was right. I thought to myself; 'Why keep him here if he wants to leave?', so I let him do as he pleased." Daisuke explained. The Hokage stood up and turned his back to the swordsman.

"There is a high probability that defecting to that man will kill Orion. If that were to happen you would be partially to blame Daisuke-kun."

"I understand that Hokage-sama, and I'll take responsibility if that is the case." There was a brief pause between the two.

"Goodbye Daisuke-kun." Sarutobi said, walking to the doorway. "I will see myself out."

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

A squad of Konoha Shinobi were sprinting through a dense forest. Among them were a young man in his early twenties with red triangle tattoos on his cheeks and a black German-Sheppard by his side, a girl in her late teens with pupiless, lavender eyes and a man his thirties with a black high collar shirt and a rectangular box on his back.

"Incoming enemy at 1 O'clock." The lavender eyed woman said. And true to her word a white haired man with duel wield scythes emerged from the dark foliage.

"Scatter!" The man with the dog said. "Who are you!?" He barked. The white haired man looked at each of his adversaries in turn, analysing their individual fighting stances.

_'Inuzuka, Hyuuga and Aburame. Typical Konoha tracking squad.' _He thought."My name is Hiroshi," He said in a calm manner. "servant to Orochimaru-sama and your executioner."

"As if!" The Inuzuka barked, suddenly becoming more feral in appearance. "**Gatsūga (Fang Passing Fang)**!" The man and his ninken began spiralling at high speeds in Hiroshi's direction. He simply sidestepped the pair and quickly ducked under the incoming palm of the Hyuuga. He jumped backwards only to land in a puddle of thousands of insects.

_'Oh bother.' _Hiroshi thought. The insects began crawling up his legs, effectively keeping him stationary. The Hyuuga came charging at him again, her index and middle fingers pointed to strike.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Orion was sprinting through a dark forest, the Sannin leading the way. Neither of them has said anything for hours, not since they had restarted their trek that morning.

"We've nearly arrived at my nearest base in **Oto no Kuni (Land of Sound)**." Orochimaru said. Orion didn't respond. After half an hour the two were standing at the base of a large, very steep hill. Orochimaru clapped once and then slammed both hands on the ground. The ground at the foot of the hill opened up, revealing a snake head entrance with stairs. "Come."

While descending the stairs Orion began to get chills running down his spine. "Is it too late to go back?" He asked rhetorically under his breath. Orochimaru gave a macabre chuckle that matched the atmosphere of the base.

"It is." The Sannin responded. The two continued to venture through the labyrinth like tunnels of the base. A nearly identical duo of young teenagers, a boy and a girl, came before them and bowed deeply. "From this point on one of you will serve him." Orochimaru said before turning his head to Orion. "Choose one." He ordered. Orion looked at the two, contemplating who to choose. He could tell they were fraternal twins, both with pitch black hair, hers being divided into two pony-tails ending at her lower back and his being short. They both also had bright blue eyes, pale skin and stood at a height of 5'2.

"Him." Orion said, nodding to the boy. The girl looked to similar to Momohime for his liking.

"Very good." Orochimaru smirked. "Come," he said to the girl. "we have work to be doing." The two then proceeded to walk away, to where Orion didn't care to know.

Orion stood there, looking at the boy, unsure of what to do. "What's you're name?" He asked.

"Orochimaru-sama has not yet given me a name, as I have not proven to be of significant value." He replied.

"Well I have to call you something. What would you prefer?"

"I do not have the right to label myself. That right belongs to Orochimaru-sama and by proxy, you, Orion-sama." The boy said. Orion raised an eyebrow, never having been called by such a suffix. He thought about it for a moment and decided on a name.

"How about Junichi?" He suggested.

"'Obedient One'?" He said with a tilt of his head.

"Yes, you seem to very fitting for you. Don't you like it?"

"No, it is a fine name. I'll be happy to go by it." Junichi said with a bow.

"Good." Orion said. "You wouldn't happen to know where a room for me to sleep in is, do you?" He asked. "Unless Orochimaru expects me to sleep in the halls."

"Of course there is." Junichi said. "Just follow me." Junichi then began to lead the way to Orion's room. "I noticed that you didn't use the appropriate title when addressing Orochimaru-sama. In fact you used no title at all, suggesting familiar and equality between the two of you, which, despite your position, you do not have."

"Is there a point to this Junichi?"

"No-one has my respect and loyalty more than Orochimaru-sama, therefore I do not wish to see him slandered in any way. That includes not addressing someone as great as him the way he deserves."

"I've had a long couple of weeks Junichi, I'm tired and do not care about using proper titles."

"... understood Orion-sama."

"You don't need to use that title with me Junichi." Orion said.

"Orochimaru-sama considers you worthy of his brand, that makes you worthy of my respect."

"His brand?" Orion then looked at his left hand. "You mean this don't you?"

"Of course. The fact that you survived it is an act worthy of anyone's respect."

"Why's that?"

"There is only a 10% survival rate. Here are your quarters Orion-sama." Junichi stopped walking outside a solitary wooden door. Orion opened the door and switched on the light switch to reveal a sizeable, yet bland, room with a double bed in the right corner with a bedside table. On the left wall there was another door, and next to that door was a wardrobe and a chest of drawers.

"Quaint." Orion mumbled.

"Through that door there is a bathroom for your personal use Orion-sama."

"Very good." Orion walked over to the bed and placed his bag under it. "I'm going for a shower." Junichi then walked over to the chest of drawers, pulled open the bottom drawer and took out a towel.

"You may need this." He walked over to Orion and handed him the towel.

"Thanks." Orion then kicked off his sandals, pulled off his shirt, mesh, pants and underwear before wrapping the towel around his waist. He walked into the bathroom and looked around. It was small and rather dingy. The shower wasn't even a tub, it was a nozzle on the wall and a drain on the ground. The floor beneath the nozzle was dipped as to not flood the room.

He put the towel on the ground and stood beneath the nozzle and as he did he noticed a problem: he did not know how to turn it on. There was no button out knob to turn. Then suddenly and without warning water began spewing from the nozzle.

"Cold!" Orion yelped. He stood there and began to quickly wash away any dirt and grime. He put his head directly under the water and began running his hands through his dark brown locks. After a brisk two minutes he stepped out from under the water and picked up the towel. The water then began to stop flowing as he began to rub down his body, then he did his hair. He wrapped the towel around his waist once again and walked out of the small room.

Junichi was standing by the bed with his hands behind his back, a blank look still adorned on his face. "How was the shower?" He asked with little to no emotion.

"Fantastic." Orion deadpanned.

"Good." Junichi responded, clearly not understanding the sarcasm. Orion looked around, on the floor and on the bed but he couldn't see his clothes.

"Where are my clothes?" He asked.

"I had a **Kage Bushin **(Shadow Clone) take them to be washed. They were rather dirty after all." Orion's eye twitched.

"What am I to wear to bed then!?" He said with a raised voice. Junichi raised an eyebrow at that.

"Huh, I did not think you so modest Orion-sama, after all not five minutes ago you stripped down before me without any hesitation."

"It isn't that!" Orion said, crossing his arms and looking down to the side as a light blush tinted his cheeks. "It's the fact that it is cold in this place and I can be a very light sleeper at times, and trust me, when I don't sleep well I really let you know it." Junichi looked at Orion with a masked gaze of calculation. "Forget it." Orion sighed, dropping the towel and climbing into the bed. He lay there for a moment or so, facing the wall, before he heard some shuffling soon followed by the feeling of the bed dipping. He turned to see a shirtless, at least he hoped he was only shirtless, Junichi. He reeled his fist back and punched the other square in the face, pushing him out of the bed. To Orion's horror Junichi was not only shirtless but completely nude.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Orion yelled, standing on the bed and pointing an accusing finger at Junichi. Junichi stood up, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"You said you were cold Orion-sama, I thought a suitable remedy to that problem would be to exchange body heat." He said, his voice slightly nasal from the hit he received. "Also I read that people sleep better when they have a bed partner." Orion looked at Junichi with an infuriated look.

"Okay first of all," Orion said. "I'm cold but not that cold okay, I don't ever need some other guy climbing into bed with me! Especially a naked guy!"

"Would you rather I get a female instead Orion-sama." Junichi said, oblivious to the suggestive meaning of what he was saying. Orion blushed a dark red, deciding to ignore Junichi's comment.

"Secondly," Orion seethed through grit teeth. "someone's bed partner would usually the person they are in a relationship with. Exclusively!" Junichi nodded, seemingly in understanding.

"I see. In the future I shall not sleep with you unless you ask me too." Junichi said with a bow. Orion's eye twitched again and then he sighed, deciding to cut his losses and just take what he was given.

"Whatever, just put your clothes back on." Orion then lay down in the bed again and pulled the covers up to his chin. "Goodnight." He mumbled.

"Goodnight Orion-sama." The now clothed Junichi said.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

In the dark forest stood a shirtless Hiroshi, his skin was black and white and he was covered in many lacerations, many of which would have rendered a human naught but a corpse. That is, if Hiroshi was a regular human. Around him lay the beaten corpse of a large black dog, the disembodied head of a man with red tattoos, the body of said man only a few feet away and the corpse of another man with his chest shattered. In Hiroshi's grip was the throat of young woman, and said young woman was clawing at his wrist and arm in a feeble attempt to escape. Hiroshi tightened his grip, making the woman spit up blood. With his right hand he reached up and removed her hitai-ate.

"Hmph, only a branch member. I was hoping to remove your eyes after your death but I guess that's not going to happen." He brought his game up to her left eye and used his three fingers to pry open her eyelid, pushing his fingers in he popped the eye out of his socket. The woman screamed body murder, or at least as bloody murdery **(A/N: ¯\\_(****ツ****)_/¯) **as she could with a hand crushing her larynx.

"And now for the other one." The woman glared at Hiroshi with her remaining eye. Hiroshi held the first eyeball with his ring and pinkie finger as he moved his hand pluck out the next eye. The Hyuuga, using the last of her energy struck Hiroshi's hand, momentarily giving her chance to crush her remaining eye. She smirked a victorious smirk, having deprived the man of obtaining a complete set of byuakugan. Hiroshi frowned, giving the woman's throat a hard sneeze and with a crack she was dead. Hiroshi sighed, frustration obvious in the sound as the inverted swastika on the woman's head disappeared. He held the eye between his thumb and index finger.

"At least I got one." He released the woman and she fell with a thud. He then delicately placed the eye on the ground and turned away. Using the blood from one of his wounds he drew a Jashin symbol on the forest floor and then proceed to sit in it. He closed in eyes and assumed a meditative position. The blood on his body began to flow into the wounds which subsequently closed up. His skin turned back to normal, no longer giving him a skeletal appearance. On his back however, there was something new; a blood red symbol of Jashin about a foot in diameter.

The man then piled all of the bodies atop one another before setting them aflame with a simple Katon jutsu. He then retrieved the eye and held it gently before starting to sprint due north.

* * *

**Well that is all for this chapter, I wanted to publish one before I started school again. I'm going into 5th Year, or 11th Grade depending on where you live. I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can but there might be a long wait as we'll be doing a lot of work this year.**

**Don't forget to check out my Deviantart page if you haven't already.**

**I bid you adieu.**


	15. The Women of Orochimaru

**Published: 15th of September 2015**

**Maail99: I will have a time-skip at some point but I still have things planned for before Sasuke graduates. I can tell you that the time-skip will happen before Sasuke graduates and will only be about a year or so. Most of what I'll write will revolve around Orion and his escapades but I will also be covering Sasuke and Daisuke's storylines.**

* * *

_**Summary of last chapter: **__The Hokage told Sasuke and Daisuke about Orion's defection, the latter admitting that he already knew and withheld information deliberately._

_The tracking squad following Orion's trail were intercepted by Hiroshi and they were killed. He also took the left eye of a Hyuuga branch member before he killed her._

_Orochimaru and Orion arrived at the formers base where he had Orion choose one of two mysterious twins to serve him directly. Having not been named yet Orion gave him the name 'Junichi', meaning obedient one due to his subservient disposition to Orochimaru and Orion. It is also clear that Junichi has very little understanding when it comes to interacting with other people, most blatantly seen when he climbed into bed naked with Orion in an attempt to keep him warm._

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Women of Orochimaru**

* * *

Orion sat up in bed, the covers gathering in his lap. He stretched and yawned before looking around and seeing neither hide nor hair of Junichi.

"Oh perfect." Orion mumbled. "Of all the things I packed how did I not think to bring more clothes?" He got out of the bed and performed the ram hand seal. In a puff if smoke he henged himself into him wearing the clothes he was yesterday. He then walked out of the room to look for Junichi. After less than a minute of walking he met a fork in the path. He activated his Sharingan to see where the most signatures were. They were few and far between but he opted to go right.

It wasn't long before he found a door identical to his own. Out of curiosity he opened it, however he almost immediately regretted that decision. His gaze met that of a young teenage girl with light violet hair. Now everything would have been fine except for the fact that she appeared to have just gotten out of the shower and was in the middle of drying her hair, leaving the rest of her body to be viewed by any happy camper that entered her room, a.k.a, Orion.

Orion's face turned dark red as the girl got an enraged expression. "What the hell do you think you're doing you little perv!" She yelled. A pink snowflake shaped crystal disk formed in her hand and she threw it at Orion. He quickly bent backwards at a 90° angle to avoid. The girl hastily used the towel to cover her front as she walked to towards Orion. "Have you ever heard of knocking you asshat!?"

"Now hold on a sec." Orion said, holding his hands out in front of him defensively as he walked backwards into the wall.

"Do you think it's fine to peek on girls you creep?" She said as she formed a crystal blade on her forearm.

"I didn't know you were in-" he was interrupted by the girl swinging her her arm and attempting to cut his throat. He let his legs collapse to fall on his rear and with millimetres to spare he avoided the blade. This, however, was enough to undo the henge so in a puff of smoke Orion was once again, much to his dismay, nude. His face turned as red as his Sharingan as he looked up at the girl towering over him. She also blushed slightly but anger was even more prevalent. She raised her arm to strike again, Orion, believing she was actually going to attempt to murder him, formed a tiger handsign and concentrated chakra in his chest. Before anyone could attempt to do anything a new person made themselves known.

"Orion-sama, have you chosen Guren-sama to be your bed mate?" Junichi said with a look of confusion. Both the now named Guren and Orion, the latter with his cheeks puffed, turned their heads to look at the boy.

"What did he say!?" Guren asked, snapping her had around to face Orion so fast she nearly got whiplash.

"Oh nothing," Orion said nervously. "don't pay attention to him, he's, he's special. Heh heh." Guren shot a glare at Junichi.

"I don't doubt that." She spat.

"I have these for you Orion-sama," Junichi said, holding out Orion's fresh clothes. "but I must express my concern in the fact that you decided to walk about the corridors naked and are trying to convince Guren-sama to sleep with you."

"Junichi?" Orion said.

"Yes Orion-sama?"

"Shut up before I burn you." He said. "And give me my clothes!" He stood up and speed walked over to Junichi. Guren released her crystal jutsu and gave a brief chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Orion asked without turning as he took his underwear from the pile in Junichi's arms. Guren properly wrapped the towel around herself, just above herself as to properly cover herself.

"Your ass is filthy." She crossed her arms with an arrogant smile. Orion, as he lifted one leg into his underwear, looked over his shoulder and saw that his butt and lower back were covered in dirt. He ran his hand over the area and the muck fell away.

He soon donned the rest of his attire, which was different than what he was wearing yesterday. The black pants tightened around his shins while the upper legs were a little baggy. There was a skin tight black undershirt that went all the way to his wrists and above that he was wearing dark red, nearly black, sleeveless vest with a high collar. With the outfit there were black sandals that went high enough that they blended with the pants, making it look as if it was one piece. On the lower back of the vest was a six inch diameter Uchiha symbol. He wore black fingerless gloves and on the left one the was a circular hole on the back that showed off his curse mark.

"Comfy." Orion commented blandly. "Doesn't feel like I'm wearing much."

"It is designed to augment speed and flexibility, as well as assist the flow of chakra." Junichi informed.

"That'll work well for Raiton." Orion said mostly to himself. He then looked at the back of his left hand. "Can't say I like this addition though."

"Wait!" Guren said, storming over to Orion and grabbing his left hand and bringing it to her eye level. "Orochimaru-sama chose you!?" She said incredulously. "A runt like you!?" Orion ripped his hand from her grasp.

"Watch who you're calling run t...Towelie!" Orion said. Guren then proceeded to grab Orion's collar and raised him up.

"Watch your back creep! Just because you're Orochimaru-sama's lap dog doesn't mean that I'll hesitate to kill you if you piss me off." Orion simply looked her directly in the eye and said with a calm disposition;

"Good luck." Guren growled quietly and released Orion's collar.

"Go fuck your boyfriend!" She said, walking into her room and slamming the door hard enough that dust fell from the ceiling.

"Does Guren-sama think we are on relationship Orion-sama?" Junichi asked. Orion gave him a look said _'are you kidding me?'_. "And what does she mean by 'fuck'?" Orion facepalmed and then began walking down the hall, not knowing where he was going but wanting to get away from Guren and to a lesser extent, Junichi.

"Orion-sama?" Junichi said, reaching a hand out to Orion. "Orion-sama where are you going?" He then began walking after Orion. "What did Guren-sama mean by 'fuck'?" He said louder. "Orion-sama?"

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

"Muramasa Daisuke, you stand guilty of withholding information pertaining to the defection of a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato." The Hokage said. He was in the room where missions were distributed daily, today however it was used as a court for the litigation of Muramasa Daisuke. The Hokage sat at his desk, as per usual, and to his left were his two advisers, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura and to his right was the Jōnin **Hanchō** (Commander), Nara Shikaku. "Do you deny these claims?"

"I do not, Hokage-sama."

"Your actions have resulted in the defection of Uchiha Orion, one of the two surviving members of the clan following the massacre 10 months ago, as well as the death of an enemy agent amongst our ranks." Shikaku said.

"The usual punishment for withholding crucial information from the village would be 14 months of suspension, you would be forbidden from leaving the village meaning you would be restricted to D-Rank missions." Koharu said. "However, given the particular value of the shinobi in question that punishment is extended 24 months."

"It must also be taken into consideration that, as previously mentioned, due to his actions the identity of a spy has uncovered and readily dispatched." Shikaku added

"That has been taken into consideration and with that in mind we will reduce the suspension to 18 months." Homura said.

"It's settled then," The Hokage said, writing a few details on a slip of paper and stapling it to Daisuke's shinobi file. "Muramasa Daisuke, you are hereby suspended from extensive shinobi duties for 18 months." He then stamped the bottom of the front page of Daisuke's file. It read, in large red capital letters: **SUSPENDED**. "The suspension will be lifted on the 1st of August next year. This hearing is concluded. You may leave now Daisuke-san." The boy stood and bowed to his superiors.

"Thank you Hokage-sama, Nara-sama, Utatane-sama and Mitokado-sama." The lanky teen then walked out of the office. He had an ever so slight smirk on his face, so slight that even if you were only a foot away from him you might not see it.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Daisuke walked through the threshold of his house and sauntered into the kitchen. He took a kettle from the shelf and filled it with water. He placed it on the stove and ignited it. He then walked into the living room

"Kaa-san?" He said. No response. "Kaa-san?" He said, slight alarm present in his voice. He walked over to the chair facing the window, the one his mother occupied for most of the day. His eyes widened as he saw his mother, vacant expression, blood dripping from her mouth and complete stillness. He put his hands on her shoulders, stirring her slightly. "Kaa-san, come on, snap out of it!" Her head fell forward, the blood dripping onto her white blouse. Daisuke cupped her cheeks to stand her head upright. Her skin was freezing, as if she had been swimming in ice cold water, at least, that's what Daisuke thought.

"Kaa-san!" He yelled, his voice cracking. He looked into her empty eyes, realisation dawning on him. "No no no no no no NO!" He began to sob. "Nato!" He yelled. "NATO!" He stood quickly and looked around, trying to find a sign of Nato's presence. As soon as he let go of her though, Daisuke's mother's upper body began to fall forward. He quickly keeled again and caught her in his arms. He rested his chin on her shoulder and allowed the tears brimming his eyes to fall. As his sounds of despair got louder, the kettle on the stove began to whistle, a high pitched whistle that, to the boy in the other room, would always be one of sorrow.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Orochimaru smirked as he stepped back from the operating table, proud, not of completing the procedure, no, such a thing was mere child's play to someone of his caliber, but of what the fruits of the procedure would be.

"Rise up, Hitomi." He said. The young girl on the table sat up, swung her legs over the edge of the table, and hopped off. She opened her eyes to look at her master, the right was a beautiful shade of blue, while the left was a pale, alluring lavender. Her legs shook for a couple of seconds but she quickly regained her bearings.

"My gratitude is great Orochimaru-sama," She said. "for this eye, and for my name." Orochimaru laughed darkly.

"Come Hitomi, we must test that new eye of yours." He said walking out of the room.

"Of course Orochimaru-sama." She replied, sauntering loyally behind the man. As she did the veins around her left temple became more pronounced. _'So this is the famed Byakugan?' _She rhetorically asked herself. _'Already I can feel it's power.'_

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

"Orion-sama, I must insist that you tell me what Guren-sama meant!" Junichi said, kneeling next to the bed. Orion was sitting on said bed, cross legged and eating a bowl of rice.

"Want some?" Orion asked, holding out some rice with his chopsticks, completely ignoring Junichi's statement.

"No Orion-sama, thank you." Junichi said quickly, a frustrated look forming on his face. Orion shrugged.

"Your loss." He brought the food to his mouth, eating it quickly. There was 3 sharp knocks on the door.

"I'll get it." Junichi said, standing and then speed walked to the door, irritation obvious in his gait. He opened the door and his expression softened slightly. "Nee-chan," He said. "what is it you want?" She walked into the room, a white eye patch now over her left eye **(similar to Nnoitra Gilga's eye patch)**.

"Orochimaru-sama wishes to see Orion-sama, to test him." She said emotionlessly. "This is to be immediate and with no delays." Orion got of the bed and put the bowl on the bedside table.

"Fine then." He walked up to her and looked her over. _'Definitely Junichi's sister.' _He thought. "Lead the way."

The three of them left the room and began traversing the labyrinth like hallways. Orion had no idea where they were going but Junichi's sister seemed to know the labyrinth off by heart. Every wall just looked the same to Orion. They were soon standing before large, elaborate, heavy looking double doors. As Junichi's sister walked directly towards them she simply held out her arm and they opened without resistance, her walk being undeterred in the slightest. On the other side of the doors there was a very large room, and on the other side of the room was a stone chair, more like a throne, flanked by a colossal stone snakes on either side. On said throne there was Orochimaru, sitting with a creepy grin on his face. To the left of the man was large cylindrical container.

"How wonderful to see you again, Orion-kun." The man said.

"What do you want Orochimaru." Orion said lazily. Before the man could even start to answer the girl had the blade of her hand against his throat, the hand however, was glowing blue and had a sharp edge to it.

"Orochimaru-sama is the greatest shinobi alive today." She said without missing a beat. "He will be addressed with respect equivalent to that his position demands. A child such as yourself doesn't even have the right to bear his mark, let alone disrespect him. Repeat this insult and I'll make your last hours unimaginably painful." She didn't even look at Orion when threatening him, her gaze never left the ground in front of Orochimaru's feet. Orion plainly looked at the chakra blade near his throat.

"I'll say the same thing to you that I said to Guren; Good luck." He said. He heard Orochimaru give a chilling chuckle.

"I'm afraid, Orion-kun, that if you were to fight Hitomi-chan I can guarantee that you wouldn't win, even with those magnificent eyes of yours." The snake man said. Orion, with said crimson eyes, glared at the girl as she took her hand away, and then focused his glare at Orochimaru.

"Tch, whatever." Orion said, it being his most Uchiha moment ever.

"Hitomi," Junichi said. "So Orochimaru-sama has given you a name." The girl turned her head to face her sibling.

"Yes, he has. Has Orion-sama given you a label yet?" She asked.

"Yes, he has named he 'Junichi'." He answered.

"...Mines better." She deadpanned.

"I disagree." Junichi said. She turned to face him completely.

"My name was given to me by Orochimaru-sama, hence it is better than one that was given to _you _by that child." Orion's eyes narrowed at her, obviously irritated by that comment. "However, I suppose it was the best you could do, as you are unworthy of anything from Orochimaru-sama." If you looked closely and focused on her eye you would've seen a hint of contempt in it.

"That's your opini-" He was interrupted by his irascible sounding sister.

"Between the two of us to my opinion is the only one worth taking into account. You-"

"Ahem." Hitomi's eye widened and she quickly turned and bowed deeply to her master.

"My deepest apologies Orochimaru-sama, I just feel the need to remind _him _of his place." Hitomi prostrated.

"It is fine Hitomi-chan. Now for the matter I summoned you here." Orochimaru stood up, walked over to container and placed his hand on it. "This, Orion-kun is for you." Orion looked at it, a bland expression on his face.

"...I don't know how to express my immense gratitude Orochimaru-_sama_." He shot a quick glare a Hitomi with the 'sama' part. "What is this for?"

"The curse mark I gave you, have you had black markings spread across your body, the source of them being the mark itself?"

"Not since it was sealed. Before that it was active for days on end." Orochimaru stroked his chin with his thumb and index finger.

"Interesting." He shook his head slightly. "In any case, this coffin will help you achieve the next level of the mark, giving you greater power than you could possibly imagine."

"I'm intrigued." He said with his tone still as bland as before. Hitomi narrowed her eye, she was obviously finding it more and more difficult to handle Orion's disrespect.

"You should be Orion-kun, you should be." He then chuckled. Orochimaru reached up his left sleeve and pulled out a vial. In that vial were 3 small, black pills. "You need only take these pills and lie in this coffin. After an uncertain amount of hours you will emerge, more powerful than before." Orion looked apprehensive.

"What do those pills do exactly?" The Uchiha asked.

"They kill you." Hitomi answered.

"What?" Orion asked sharply.

"They kill you!" Hitomi repeated with annoyance. "Don't make me repeat myself again boy!" Orion narrowed his eyes again. "The pills force the mark on your hand, which is at level one, to ascend to its second level. Such a drastic change to your body would kill you. That's where that coffin comes in, it will give your body time to adjust by suspending you in a state of half death. Can you comprehend what I'm saying?"

"With spectacular ease you mewling quim." Hitomi looked just about ready to relieve Orion's shoulders the duty of supporting his head. Orion heard Junichi stifle a brief laugh. Luckily for him his sister was too pissed at Orion to notice. Hitomi took in a long breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth.

"I will not resort to such childish exchanges with you." She said.

"Orochimaru-sama, Nee-chan and I will seal you in the coffin while your body is adjusting Orion-sama." Junichi added. "The seal will automatically dissolve when your curse mark reaches its second stage."

"Yes, now that we have the explanations out of the way, let us proceed to the task at hand shall we." Orochimaru said. He then picked up the coffin and used to the **Shunshin no Jutsu** (Body Flicker Technique) to teleport to the centre of the room. The other three then ran to join him. He then tossed the vial to Orion, who caught it with ease. "Take all three of them in rapid succession. We will then proceed with the fūinjutsu." Orion did as instructed and removed the cork from the vial and poured the pills into his hand. He quickly popped one into his mouth and swallowed, then the second and finally the third.

Nought happened for a few seconds, but then Orion felt as if his lungs were filling up with water. His insides burned as if they were saturated with oil and he then decided to try his hand at flame swallowing. He fell to his knees as he began to retch. Junichi was quick to act, picking the boy up and hastily placing him in the cylinder. He jumped back so that he, Orochimaru and Hitomi formed a triangle with the coffin at the centre. The three formed three handsigns before clapping and raising their hands in the air. The atmosphere in the room chilled as what looked like a black cloud formed directly over the coffin. The cloud was being fed by 3 streams coming from triangle of people. After only ten seconds the three directed their hands downwards and the cloud quickly condensed to form a disk that quickly slammed down onto the coffin. Orochimaru took out five pieces of paper, bit his thumb and started writing an identical sealing formula on all five.

"**Shikokumujin** (Four Black Fogs Formation)!" He declared as he threw the papers at the coffin. They, of their own accord, formed a circle around the coffin before landing on it and sealing the lid closed. The room settled. "And now we wait."

* * *

**Inside Orion's Mindscape**

* * *

Orion was, for the second time, inside his own mind and surrounded by darkness. He was still wearing what he was before he entered the coffin. He hastily activated the Sharingan, revealing the stairs that needed to be taken to get to the eye, as well as the black and white robe he was wearing last time.

_'Why am I here of all places?' _Orion asked himself as he began to walk up the stairs. He once again began to feel the overbearing presence of the being, evidenced by his increasingly sluggish movements. He made it to the top to see the gargantuan eye once again, this time with the humanoid body already sitting under it.

"So we meet again Orion. How are things?" The being asked.

"Cut the crap!" Orion barked. "Why am I here?"

The being stood up and slowly walked forward until the distance between itself and Orion was halved. It keeled down and tapped the floor with its index finger. It sent ripples through the floor, revealing that below the surface there was a large white snake, whose scales were made up of smaller snakes. The snake was unconscious and coiled around itself.

"This is why." The entity said. "When that man branded you with that mark he also inserted part of his consciousness in with it."

"Okay, so why does that explain why I'm here?"

"There was a struggle, between me and it. I obviously came out on top, but it was harder than I am proud of." Orion's eyes narrowed at the being.

"And exactly how long did that struggle last?" Orion asked, putting the pieces together.

"A few days." The being said. "In fact, that power struggle was the very reason you were in pain for days. My excessive activity was the fault of your forcibly activated Mangekyou Sharingan. The reason for the marks being spread across your body is the same, except it is from the snakes perspective."

"Are you telling me that you can just forcibly activate my eyes whenever you feel like it!?"

"No, I cannot. The only reason I managed to do so then was because your system was attacked, and therefore, weakened. That weakness allowed me the liberty I possessed then. I can't repeat that action unless a similar set of unlikely circumstances were to arise."

"I see." Orion said. "That's dandy and all but I need you to release this thing so I can achieve the next level of the mark."

"After all the effort I went through to seal it? I'd rather not." Orion glared at it.

"Are you really going to be difficult over this? I mean what harm will it do you? I'm going to master it so that it won't be a problem."

"It's not that it'll do any harm Orion-kun, it's the fact that I put time and energy into sealing it. Also, you went through copious amounts of physical pain and strain. Do you really want that all to be for nought?" It questioned. Orion let out a sigh of frustration.

"You have the ability to test my patience like no other ya know that!" He exclaimed.

"I am aware." It said. "But I do not care." Orion pinched the bridge of his nose. Suddenly his eyes opened and a sly grin made itself visible on his face. He closed his eyes and concentrated chakra into them. The being, realizing what was going to happen reached its hands out, sending a cloud of darkness from its sleeves at the boy. Orion snapped his eyes open, doing so resulted in a wall of white flames forming around him.

"**Futsunushi**!" He yelled out. The flames then formed a dome around Orion. The being planned on getting to the boy from underneath but before it could a large white crack appeared over the darkness that was the floor.

"That can't be good." The being said. It dissipated the black clouds as the white flames were quenched by Orion. When the vanished it was revealed that Orion had impaled the ground with a cone of solidified white flames. The snake underneath stirred, its eyes opened and as soon as it saw a compromise in its prison. It put all of its force against a strike at the spot and broke loose. It then proceeded to coil its large body around Orion. Said boy had a triumphant smile on his face.

"All that work you put into it is all gone now." He said, not losing his grin.

"So it is." It sighed. "If you're this adamant on having this parasite roaming around your subconscious then it isn't worth the effort to seal it back."

"My thought exactly, Chikara." Orion said, the snake closing completely around him, keeping him from the newly christened 'Chikara'.

"Power?" Chikara said aloud to itself. "Fitting." It then walked back under its main body and absorbed into it.

* * *

**That's it for this chapter, to be honest it was shorter than I hoped it would be. **

**I don't know how long it'll take to get the next chapter out now that I've started a second story. If you like Big Hero 6 and yaoi it's the story for you. FYI it won't be revolving around sex, it will be about action, romance, and vigilante justice. **

**Until next time,**

**I bid you adieu.**


	16. The Second Stage

**Published: 27th October 2015**

**Sorry for the extended wait on this one, I was working on the second chapter of my Big Hero 6 fanfic, A Vigilante's Desire. As well as that I've had soul crushing amounts of homework to do, so yeah. For the foreseeable future there'll be at least a month between each chapter. If I can get one out sooner I will but don't expect it.**

**Enough of my rambling,**

**On with the story.**

* * *

_**Summary of Last Chapter: **__Orion woke up to find Junichi gone so he left the room to look around. He met Guren, a subordinate of Orochimaru, and they did not get off to a good start._

_Junichi's sister, now named Hitomi, went to bring Orion to Orochimaru. It is seen that she has a level of contempt for her brother due to him being useless to Orochimaru in her eyes._

_Orochimaru tells Orion that in order to achieve the next level of the curse mark he must take certain drugs and hibernate in a coffin._

_He does so but it brought into his mindscape and meets the being within him for a second time. It is revealed that the being was the cause of all the turmoil Orion suffered after being branded. It was because the being was fighting to seal away the consciousness within the curse mark._

_The being does not wish to release Orochimaru's consciousness due to the effort it took to seal it away in the first place. After a brief scuffle Orion releases the consciousness and is enveloped by it. _

_Before he fades out Orion names the being Chikara, meaning power. Chikara decides to leave Orion be because it'd be too much effort to reseal Orochimaru's consciousness._

* * *

**Chapter 16: The Second Stage**

* * *

There was a pregnant silence within the room. It had been 43 hours since Orion was sealed within the coffin, the estimated time it took for a mark of this calibre to level up. A purple smoke was emanating from the coffin.

"You may want to stand back." Orochimaru said, taking a few steps away from the coffin. The purple smoke began to emit at a higher rate, so much so that a cloud formed in the room. The coffin suddenly exploded, giving off a large blast radius. The three occupants used their arms to shield their faces as wooden debris scattered throughout the room.

In the centre of the dispersing dust cloud there was a crouched figure. Orion slowly stood up, taking in the new powerful form he obtained. He looked at at his now clawed hand, and breathed from his fanged mouth. He looked at his skin, which was now a dark mud brown. On his face there were two vertical lines, as thick as his eyes and going down his face. He ran his hand through his now pitch black, shoulder length hair.

"This power..." He said. "really lives up to the hype you gave it, Orochimaru." He turned and looked the man in the eye. He grinned back.

"Hitomi-chan, if you would." He said, gesturing to Orion.

"Of course!" She exclaimed, and ran at Orion. She jumped and flipped mid-air, holding her leg out to slam her heel onto Orion. He used an x-block above his head, the force of the collision cracking the ground where he stood. Orion pushed her away and she went through the air, she landed softly and immediately began going through handsigns. She placed her hands onto the ground and the area froze. The ice spread vastly and quickly, in less than a second the floor was covered completely by a frozen sheet.

Orochimaru stood unaffected by the change in topography, Junichi on the other hand faltered before retreating against the wall for safety. Orion faltered too, but remained confident in his position. However, after trying to move one foot it slipped from under him. He dug his clawed nails into the ground to prevent himself from face planting. Hitomi darted forward, not by running though, she was skating on the ice with utter grace.

Within seconds she was kicking Orion in the jaw, causing him to become airborne before landing on his back and sliding towards the other side of the room. He dug his nails into the ground once again as he flipped himself into his stomach. Using only one handsign he consecrated chakra in his chest before exhaling, shooting out a gargantuan ball of fire. Hitomi stopped mid-skate and used a single handed handsign to have a wall of ice rise up before her. The fire collided with the cold barrier. Hitomi could feel the heat around her, licking at her skin.

After the fire died down she did away with the ice wall, only to see that Orion was now standing on the wall opposite the door, the ice free wall. She skated towards him, as she did she formed 3 extremely thin ice senbon between the fingers. She threw them at a breakneck speed at Orion. He side-stepped the weapons without much effort, though without the Sharingan those senbon would have struck Orion and most likely would have killed him.

Hitomi jumped at the wall with her leg outstretched, the intent being to freeze Orion. The Uchiha however, knew to completely avoid contact.

_'She's skilled but she's letting her chakra hang loose, I can see every move she's going to make.' _Orion thought cockily. Hitomi used her chakra to attach to wall as well. She quickly ran at Orion, and when in range she outstretched her palm to hit his face. He titled to the side to avoid being frozen. Hitomi began to her fingertips out and back, not dissimilar to how a Hyuuga might fight, despite not utilizing the Byakugan at that moment.

Orion narrowly avoided the each strike, stepping backwards with each one. Meanwhile Hitomi decided to up her game, relenting for a brief moment to put her hands together. She pulled the left one away, leaving a trail of smooth, sharp ice between her hands. She grabbed the rounded base of the ice with her right hand and held it tightly. She swung with the metre long weapon, though she was far from a master swordsman so Orion, having fought many times with Daisuke, ducked it easily.

Orion used the momentary reprieve from Hitomi's vicious attacks to put some distance between the two. He went through a familiar sequence of handsigns. When he was finished he put his left index and middle finger in front of his chin. He quickly blew out, a dragon-like head emerging from his mouth, subsequently followed by a lengthy body. The head diverged into 3, all of which were on a direct course for Hitomi. She decided to jump back onto her own personal ice rink, once again skating at a fast speed. The immense fire jutsu collided with the wall, or floor from where Orion was standing, the equally immense heat melting a hole through it.

Hitomi continued to form senbon between the fingers of her free hand and then throw then at Orion. The Uchiha began to run across the wall, parallel to Hitomi. He pointed his right index finger at her and condensed his chakra into it. He then released the chakra in one burst, shooting a narrower beam than usual at Hitomi. She changed the grip on her blade to a backhanded one and held it in front of her face. The lightning and ice collided, the former element causing Hitomi to be pushed back into the wall.

She began to strain to keep the beam from piercing her. Her weapon began to crack and, knowing what would happen if it broke, share put a lot power into redirecting the attack. With a yell she forced the lightning to slice through the ceiling and wall above her, though it cost her her weapon.

_'I wasn't expecting him to be able to break my denser brand of ice, I shouldn't underestimate the power the curse mark can grant someone again.' _She composed herself into a fighting stance and was about to say something before she heard creaking and cracking above her. She looked up to see cracks in the ceiling, caused by her deflection of Orion's attack. The ceiling began to collapse, debris beginning to fall. Hitomi clapped her hands together as the ceiling fell on top of her.

"She's still in there." Orion mumbled from the wall. He looked at the ceiling, or lack thereof, and saw that it looked to be midday outside. Suddenly the rubble that buried Hitomi began to rumble. This was followed by a pillar of ice with a dome on top erupting from the ground and out the ceiling hole. Orion smirked.

"So that's how you wanna play it eh?" He propelled himself from the wall and landed on the ice. This time he kept his balance and used his forward momentum to skate near the pillar. When he was directly under it he jumped up and out of the room.

He landed on the grass, but he was blinded by the sun, so much so that he barely managed to duck the kick aimed for his head. He put some distance between himself and Hitomi, using the minute opportunity to make 3 **Raiton Bushin **(Lightning Clones). They met Hitomi as she ran at Orion, intercepting an attack with her new sword. One of the clones grabbed Hitomi's upper arm, the effect was seen instantly as the hand began to freeze. Though that was Orion's plan. As Hitomi was about to stab the clone, Orion made a single handsign, resulting in the detonation of all three clones. Hitomi's eyes widened in realisation. Her hasty escape attempt was foiled by her own technique. A bright light engulfed the area.

Orion smirked in victory, thinking he won and deactivated his Sharingan.

"You were wrong to underestimate me." He said.

"No, you were wrong to underestimate me." Hitomi's cold voice said. It was Orion's eyes that widened this time, in shocking realisation. Hitomi was behind him, sword raised and an electric blue aura emitted from her arms. As she swung her blade down Orion yelled out;

"Futsunushi!" The white flames scorched to life, engulfing Hitomi's arm and blade, though it did little to melt it. Her skin instantly turned ice blue and she froze. Orion decided to again put distance between them. He then decided to try another fire jutsu. When the flames cleared 'Hitomi' had many cracks in her skin. A part of her face chipped away, revealing it to be an empty ice husk.

Orion deactivated the Mangekyou and replaced it with the regular Sharingan. He looked frantically around, looking for his opponent. He looked down when he felt a coldness at his feet. He saw a patch of ice form at his feet, causing alarms to go off in his head. He leapt away before it could take hold, and just in time too, because a conical spike of ice with a two metre base emerged from the ground.

Another spike shot up at him too, and another every time he moved backwards. He was about to use the Mangekyou again before he backed into an ice wall. Before he even register the cold he felt a blinding pain shoot through his abdomen. He looked to down to see Hitomi's ice sword rooted in his gut. He looked over his shoulder to see the face of Hitomi in the reflective ice wall behind him.

"What the hell!?" He cursed as a drop of blood trickled from his mouth. "What are you?"

"This, is where the true power of the **Hyoton **(Ice release) lies, the **Makyō Hyōshō** (Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals)." She said into Orion's ear. She churned the blade slightly, causing the boy to spit up more blood.

"Damn you!"

"Hm," Hitomi scoffed. "if this is the most you can do then you deserve to die. You are unworthy of Orochimaru-sama." Orion was breathing heavily, staying conscious only by willpower, and maybe a little help from other longevity granting factors.

He began to feel an immense pressure build up in his shoulder blades. Thinking it was another of Hitomi's abilities he looked at her again. "You bitch." Suddenly the pressure exploded, bringing with it an even more immense pain. He could feel something...extra, attached to his body and he felt Hitomi withdraw her blade and go back into her mirror. He stumbled forward, falling to his knees and clutching his gut in an attempt to keep his blood where it should be. He could feel something around his body, as well as feel whatever it was that was around his body. He opened his eyes to see large skeletal appendages originating from his shoulder blades hovering over him.

"I see the curse mark has evolved even further." Hitomi commented. "No matter, it won't help you win, you're already mortally wounded." Orion clumsily tried to control the new appendages, extending them slowly.

_'I best be cautious, the curse mark may have given him a new ability.' _Hitomi thought, deciding to stay in her mirror. Orion smirked a bloody smirk, standing shakily and turning to face Hitomi.

"I'm not out of this yet." He extended the appendages fully, revealing large, dark brown, bat-like wings. The span reached total length of about 3 metres. He put his right hand on the outside of his left forearm, and quickly ran it up the length. A blade of white lightning was now attached to Orion. He smirked again. Looking down he saw that the wound was already clotting.

_'Perfect.'_

He dashed at the mirror, concentrating even more chakra into the blade. That action tinted the blade black, though it still shone white. Orion thrust his blade into the mirror, barely piercing it. Hitomi smirked arrogantly.

"You can't hope to crack this mirror." She said. "It's as hard as diamond." Her smile faltered though, when the blade inched forward, cracking the surface of the mirror. Her eyes widened and she leapt out the other side of the mirror. Just in time too, because Orion's blade went right through the ice, smashing it.

"Not so *pant pant* tough now is it?" Orion wheezing breaths mixed within his words. Hitomi smiled once again, finding the boy's cockyness funny.

"That," She said, bringing her hands out in front of her, palms parallel to the ground. "was one in insignificant mirror, and it took you so much effort to destroy just that." An ice circle of over a dozen metres appeared on the ground underneath Orion.

He dashed to the side, knowing that whatever was going to happen would hurt. He was blocked by a mirror identical to the first one rising on the circumference of the circle. Hitomi was in it, and she thrust out her sword, aiming for Orion's neck. He moved his head to the side at the last second so the blade only scraped his shoulder. He dashed away in the opposite direction, using his wings to assist his manoeuvrability. It was in vain though as mirrors began to appear all around the circumference of the ring, and then more over them, then more over them. This repeated dozens of more times until it looked that they reached up to the clear blue sky.

Orion turned, looking all around for some sort of gap. He predictably found none. Hitomi appeared in all of the mirrors. Orion's eyes widened at the realization that he was completely screwed.

"You're finished." All of the reflections said, though it sounded like just one voice. They moved in a blur, the boys eyes seeing it clearly but his enhanced body was too damaged keep up. He deflected one slash, but three others knicked him. She then stabbed him from behind in both wings, falling him to his knees. The attacks halted and the one and only Hitomi stood before him. He had dozens of wounds all around his body, blood soaking his clothes.

The wings began to recede back into his back, his skin paling, his hair shortening and his eyes darkening.

"I will admit, you did put up a decent enough fight. Managing to smash my mirror is quite an accomplishment. You may be worthy of our master at some point in the future but until then you are still trash to me." Hitomi said, Orion not registering a word of it as he fell forward into unconsciousness. Hitomi raised her right hand and snapped her fingers, causing all of her ice to turn to crystallized dust.

* * *

********BREAK********

* * *

Orion awoke, his limbs stiff and his cuts burning. He sat up, grunting as he did so.

"Orion-sama!" Junichi exclaimed, rushing to his bedside. "Don't move, your wounds aren't healed fully yet."

"Ugh, what happened?" Orion asked as Junichi lowered his head to the pillow.

"Nee-sama nearly killed you so I brought you back here, washed you and dressed your wounds." He fetched a fresh roll of bandages from the nightstand. "I need to redress some of these wounds. Despite the fact that you've healed at an extraordinary rate you still opened a couple by moving just now." He pulled the cover down to Orion's feet, revealing that he had many cuts, some deeper than others, all down his legs, abdomen, arms and chest. Four of them were bleeding again under the bandages, one above his right knee, one below the left side of his ribcage, one right above his groin and the last on his right shoulder.

"Raise your leg for me." The boy did so. "So what happened, what managed to defeat you while in the second stage of the curse mark?"

"A very large cylinder of ice mirrors -ahh!" He yelped as Junichi ran a wet cloth over the cut.

"You got her to use that level of strength?" He asked with surprise and a little awe in his voice. "It only took one ring before I succumbed to her power."

"You fought her?" Orion asked.

"Of course I did." Junichi answered as he redressed Orion's wound. "Nee-sama and I are much older than we appear. We were artificially grown by Orochimaru-sama in a lab using the DNA of members of the Yuki clan and that of the Shodai Hokage. As well as the body he was inhabiting at the time. It has since been replaced of course."

"What has, his body?"

"Yes, it's Orochimaru-sama's immortality jutsu. Lift your hips slightly please." Junichi cut away the bandages around Orion's waist.

"So tell me how old are you the ice bitch really?" Junichi ignored the insult to his kin.

"Twenty-five. He started the process of growing us well before he defected from your village."

"Why do you look so young then? -hsss!" He asked, followed by a hiss of pain.

"Like I said, we've the genes of the Shodai Hokage, though they are extremely, and emphasis on extremely, diluted. Though it, along with other factors, was enough to practically freeze us before we were woken. We've aged slowly ever since then."

"Wait, if he started you before he defected then how does he have you now?"

"We were the one experiment he kept far away from the village. In order to have an easy supply to members of the Yuki clan, who are native to **Mizu no Kuni **(Land of Water), he kept us in eastern **Hi no Kuni **(Land of Fire). Blood purges were occurring there at the time so he had access to many bodies."

"Sounds lovely." Orion commented as Junichi began to dress the wound under his ribcage. "So can you use **Hyoton **(Ice Release) too?"

"Yes, but only to a meagre extent, especially when compared to my sister."

"Ya know," Orion said as Junichi finished with his shoulder. "you're being very liberal with this information all of a sudden. Why?"

"You are now my master, akin to Orochimaru-sama but not as devout, I have nothing to hide from you. If you request me to do something I'll do it to the best of my abilities so long as it does not contradict the wishes of Orochimaru-sama."

"I see." Junichi brought the covers up to his neck. "Aren't there any medical ninja here, ones that could heal me?"

"Not at this particular base, it is low maintenance as it is the closest to Konohagakure. Orochimaru-sama does not keep anything important here do it needn't be occupied most of the time."

"Okay. One more thing though, I understand why you and Ice-Bitch are here, but why Guren? She wasn't there when I emerged from the coffin so I don't see why she's relevant."

"She just wanted to see who the receiver of Orochimaru-sama's curse mark is. She wishes to be a vessel at some point but Orochimaru-sama covets your Kekkei Genkai, therefore she's been passed out on the list of candidates. She dislikes you for that."

"Oh wonderful, I've an ice bitch and crystal bitch after my blood. It's gonna be a fun few years."

"Quite." Junichi chuckled.

* * *

**I apologise profusely for the abysmal length of this chapter, especially since it has been a good while since my last update. I am just really uninspired when writing for this story and I'm not enjoying it right now. On the other hand I'm really having fun with my other story, A Vigilante's Desires, and I want to focus on that for the time being. For those reasons I'm putting The Chronicles of Orion on a TEMPORARY HIATUS. **

**I don't know when the next chapter will be up but I promise that this won't last for more than a few months but I probably won't update for this until after Christmas.**

**For quite a while, I bid you adieu.**


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